


渡鸦 | 𝔊𝔢𝔫𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔫 ℑ𝔪𝔭𝔞𝔠𝔱

by PoisonForest



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Chinese Mythology, Japanese Mythology, 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Betrayal, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fatui (Genshin Impact), Friends With Benefits, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29291796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonForest/pseuds/PoisonForest
Summary: ❝ The 𝔟𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔡 on my teeth taste like a poem, like religion, like the sickly sweet way you look at me. ❞Moscow does not believe tears, but it believes in love. Break that bond and you'll face the wrath of Snezhnaya's winter storms. Break it twice and you'll breathe your last. Asira was thrown out, cast aside with a branded sigil of her failure and remains of her humanity chained inside her, but was given the chance to begin anew within the walls of Mondstadt. Only, she had forgotten that the past is not forgiving. The past is a revenge driven beast, bloodlust and fury all that drive it forward, and she was a fool long overdue.For the Fatui never forget to collect their debts. And this Asira would know better than anyone.
Relationships: Diluc (Genshin Impact)/Original Female Character(s), Diluc/Traveler (Genshin Impact), Kaeya & Traveler (Genshin Impact), Kaeya (Genshin Impact)/Original Female Character(s), Tartaglia | Childe & Traveler (Genshin Impact), Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact)/Original Female Character(s), Traveler & Zhongli (Genshin Impact)
Kudos: 9
Collections: Genshin Impact, Genshin Impact Fanfics, Genshin impact





	1. Prologue

My dear child, have you heard the story of the Gods?

Their tales of victory and woe, tales of great love and betrayal, tales of the very stars and the threads of destiny?

Yes, my child, the blood of the Gods now soar in our veins, as they roam Teyvat through you and me. The constellations that once summoned the mighty beings on Mount Olympus now do your bidding, their legacy and regrets passed on in an eternal melody only the sun and moon can whisper at the peak of dawn and dusk. Their melodies for only you to hear.

I've sung the songs of Leo Minor, Monoceros Caeli, and Pavo Ocellus, but have you heard the tragedy that is Corvus? The most loyal, intelligent, and beautiful of the gods' servants, only to be destroyed, ignorant of her dying cries and they tore apart her wings and carved out her heart, letting her tears and blood pool into the sky. All due to the unforgiving wrath of a single God.

Corvus was an unnamed enchantress, body purer than the dove's as she flew with the blessing of the moonlight. Her master was Apollo, then God of sun and light, prophecy and youth, his cries of freedom still echo through our Archons Barbados, and his love of the Arts thrive through Baal. Known not only for her plumage, but for unmatched intelligence, one that rivaled Athena's own, Corvus was one deeply loved by Apollo as his most worthy servant.

And Corvus loved the God threefold.

However, such a relation could never persist with Master and Servant, and so Corvus kept her heart's sole reason for beating secret until Apollo himself tore it out from her chest.

The Gods were not bound by mortal lineage, nor where they by earthly morals or law. And so Apollo fell for a mortal, and despite the consequences— not to him but to his mortal, it is truth no matter what a God does, another will harbor his curse for him— claimed her, a noble princess then known as Coronis of Thessalian. Corvus was a master in the art of reconnaissance, none escaping her watchful eye, and she was tasked with watching Apollo's dear Coronis.

And watch she did.

She watched her Master fall in love with another, she watched as they fell beside one another and conversed with hushed whispers, words dripping like honey from her tongue to his, she watched as they shared lingering touches and the vows of man and woman of god and goddess, she watched as they began and ended their sunsets in the other's grasp, sharing kisses that rivaled the passion of Aphrodite. Passion that could only ever appear to Corvus as the chilling ghost of warmth from the empty winter winds.

But Apollo could only be entertained by a mortal for so long.

Duty and the thunderous demands of Zeus forced the God back to Olympus, but not before he departed with a kiss to both Coronis and to their unborn child, tasking Corvus to watch his mortal, and, if anything should happen, to report to him at once. And accept she did.

Corvus stayed, training her eyes to the lover, the wife, and bearer of her Master's child day in and day out, until one dawn she spread her wings only to notice another man laying beside Coronis. Ischys, a mortal worth no more to Corvus than the dirt under her talons or the maggots within the earth, slept with Coronis, a moral who had tasted the forbidden fruit and the _love_ of a God. 

Oh, that foolish mortal. Did she not know the blessing that carried with the vows of a god? She was granted the memory of Apollo's silky touch along her body, she had felt his lips dance along her skin, and she had his demigod child beating within her. Oh! But what could a mere Servant do? Her eyes knew not of tears nor the cries of treachery. And so she flew. She flew to her Master, willing and wishing that, perhaps, he will witness this dishonest and revolting nature of mortals, and finally accept his servant?

A fool.

Corvus was nothing more than a fool.

She flew to Olympus, her wings threatening to fail her and her voice became raw and throat bled from her screams. Pushing past the point of return as she flew beyond the heavens and up to her Master, only her loyalty and this accused thing called love forcing her forward. Finally Corvus arrived to Apollo's side, and she told him of his lover's secret deeds, that Ischys son of Elatus had wedded Coronis the daughter of Phlegyas of birth divine.

My child, if you take away anything let it be this— the Gods know nothing of what it means to be mortal. Not of loyalty, not of pain, and certainly not of _love_.

Corvus had barely finished uttering the words of Coronis' treachery, when, at the same time her wings, Corvus, croaking Raven, were suddenly changed to black, as her very soul was set aflame. She was once a bird with silver-white plumage, equal to the plumage of the spotless doves, equal to the divine beauty that graced Venus Urania, those saviors of Olympus with their watchful cries, outshining the swan, the lover of rivers. Her speech condemned her. Because of her ready speech Corvus, who was once ethereal white, was now white's opposite.

Apollo burned her, burned through her tears and through her cries, burning until charred black and until the only thing remaining was her heart. That, upon all that has happened and all that was to come, still beat for her Master.

Corvus was banished to the sky, her white plumage, heavenly beauty, and voice of ambrosia no more, as she was chained to the inky black sky, her tears overflowing the chalice of the night as she was met with her eternal prison of stars.

The constellation of Corvus, The Raven, and tragedy that follows her lives on in Teyvat and in our own world my child. As those who bear her constellation bear not only her legacy and Vision but also her festering rage, unrestrained sorrow, and this poison we call love.

And they are destined to burn.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

greetings traveler, so you have stumbled upon this epic? 

warning, will contain mature scenes, gore, heartbreak, and a chalice of your tears. 

ready? then we shall commence.

and yes this is the same fic published in multiple other sites


	2. Act 1

"Here's to our newest Capitan! To Barbatos!"

"TO BARBATOS!"

Nothing was audible against the chorus of hardy laughter and the upbeat strumming of the band in the tavern. Drunken lyrics of the bard filling the golden hues as knights and citizens alike packed into the Angel's Share, not an empty cup in sight. But you wouldn't expect less from the folk of Mondstadt, lovers of freedom and wine alike.

The staff of the Angel's Share scurried about faster than dandelions on the wind, trays full with the finest wines and beers. The very wood of the building was etched with the scent of grape and mist flower, laughter and dance, song of bard and tale of balladeer.

In particular one bartender stood out from the rest, his unwavering concentrations on his craft at hand coupled with an untamed fiery red mane made him impossible to ignore. His disposition was alluring to all, although his disinterested was evident in his lack of reaction to the swarm of women about him.

But he was far from being the center of the tavern for tonight.

Per usual one figure immediately dazed and entranced the rest, a certain man with a drinking habit that lead him to befriend even the city's enemies, and a reputation to match as the suave intellect of the Knights. A man whose past held more secrets than that of the eyepatch he insisted on wearing over his right eye. Three knocked over goblets and their spilled contents reflected the glow of the chandeliers back onto the man's rich bronze skin, his contagious laughter evident with the never ending conversation and dance at his table.

"Cavalry Capitan! How's it feel having 'nother-" a hiccup "Capitan under ya wing? Eh Kaeya? Especially such a cute one at that, I can't believe ya haven't made a move after all these years!" The man who spoke lurched forward with laughter, hands slamming onto the table as the addressed male turned with a little more than a smirk adorning his mouth.

"My my Sir Huffman, it does appear that you've had a drink too many. Not only did you fail to address me properly but also dare raise such a scandalous question towards our new Capitan of Reconnaissance?" Kaeya leaned over the table, piercing navy eyes never leaving the drunken guard's. He raised an eyebrow, dangerous smirk only shirking once Huffman backed down, nodding vigorously.

"O- Of course, where were my manners! Looks like I better excuse myself."

"That's much better."

Kaeya lured him back to his chair before stealing the attention of his spectators back to the magnificent tales that said Cavalry Capitan had no doubt fabricated moments before.

"Now where were we? Ah yes, moments after I was thrown, plummeting from the very peak of StormTerror's Lair, I somehow summoned the strength to deliver an icy blow to the ground... and BAM!" Kaeya jumped utop the table, drinks and silverware crashing to the ground. "The world before me froze and my fall was broken, ice encasing the evil dragon as I stood victorious over its frozen carcass!" Swoons and cheers erupted from his audience, and the male grabs a cup of dandelion wine from the crowd before bowing.

"How odd, I don't recall you being there for the capture of Dvalin, Sir Kaeya."

His shadowed gaze rose slowly from his bow, lips stretching into a wolffish smile as he met the unamused frown of the women below him. "Ah, well if it isn't the honorary Capitan of the evening!"

Kaeya jumped from the table, landing on one knee as he delicately took the wrist of the women, eyes still brimming with mischief as his icy lips kissed the top of her hand. She shivered. "You look splendid, however, unless my eyes deceive me, I don't believe you've gone to dance yet. Do I have the pleasure to be my lady's first partner of the evening?"

"I have no interest in dancing with lying little imps. I'm sure I'll have no problem choosing a more suitable dance partner from the many stunning men and women behind you." Another laugh.

"How harsh~" Kaeya held fast to her hands as he stood, "But, my dear Asira, I would never forgive myself if I let this golden opportunity pass." Despite her glare the Cavalry Capitan dragged her to the center of the tavern, dozens of folk already shaking the wooden walls as they jump and spin in rhythm to the band. "Hmm, what do you say? Entertain your dear friend's drunken fantasy?"

Asira clicked her tongue, attempting to look stoic despite the way her feet already tapped to the beat in spite of herself. The music was too damn intoxicating. She let herself steal a glance at a certain red head, but he had hardly moved since the last time she had looked.

"Well..." turning, she faced Kaeya, "I suppose I shouldn't deprive my superior of such an honor. I do believe you'll owe me a drink or five after this though?" The dark turquoise haired man only laughed in response, pulling her onto the floor as he began to spin with the music.

"Whatever the lady desires!"

The heat from countless dancing bodies and the smell of dandelion wine caressed Asira's form, and she found herself flying to and fro from the arms of Kaeya, exchanging every beat as her legs spun her and her partner about the tavern. Hours seemed like moments, nothing but the rhythmic tapping of shoes against the wood, the passion of lingering touches, and the flurry of drowned out conversations telling the tales of time as the bards played on.

Turning once more, Asira was met by the hold of another Knight, their smile mirroring her own as the two found their own pattern in twirling across the wooden floor, his right hand featherlight against her left.

"Loverboy finally convinced you to dance, huh?" Asira tsked at his probing remark, blonde cocking his head as he awaited her response, spinning her around once more.

"Oh please, if we are on the subject may I interject about the death stares your dear Sucross is giving me?" Her partner's blue eyes widened, and Asira laughed before jabbing him between the ribs. "Kidding~ Honestly Albedo, I will never fathom why you don't just tell your lovely little assistant the truth," she let out a small smirk, "any longer and I might just reveal it myself."

Of the years Asira had spent in Mondstadt, a large majority was under heavy care, in and out of the guarded Knight's laboratories. Their Head Alchemist, Albedo, was the only figure she remembered from the many early months, but the scientist had become so much more than just her doctor and all-too-eager experimenter. He taught her not only of alchemy and painting, but also of Teyvat and the rest of Mondstadt, he taught her how to navigate the wilderness with nothing but elemental sight and now to barter for the cheapest price for Sticky Honey Roast on Tuesday afternoons. Being an outsider himself, not to mention his amiable personality, he was a comfort to Asira, and seemed all the brighter after everything that she had gone through before stumbling half dead into the debt of the Knights of Favonious.

She smiled unconsciously. Obviously the whole of the city rescued that sorry wretch of a girl, but Albedo held a special place as a mentor and friend she never had the luxury of retaining before. Asira knew part of his fascination with her drew from her... unusual elemental source, but she wanted to believe they had grown closer on their own accord.

"Haha," his chuckle broke her train of thought, "I could say the same for you and a certain brooding pyro user."

Albedo watched with a wry smile as Asira's face contorted, lips parting for a harsh retort before he quickly cut her off, "But tonight isn't about them. I wanted to be sure to congratulate you on your promotion, my newest Capitan! It brings me great comfort to have another sane Knight among us, especially with all the recent advancements with the Fatui and Abyss Order." Asira nearly tripped at the mention of them, but forced a smile.

"It is an honor to be welcomed... I'll do my best."

The bards continued into the night, far past any sensible hour for the any noble knight to be up. Oh, but that was the furthest thought from their minds! Asira paid no heed to the stuffy alcohol-laced air, nor to the grime and dirt collecting on her flying coat uniform, only the beat of the music and the congratulatory cries spurring her forward.

Dance was the knightly clash of souls after all.

Before she knew it she was back against Kaeya, his semi-gloved hands cold against hers, yet his body seemed to radiate warmth with every move they made against each other. Foot forward. Back. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done this— why had she ever stopped? A hand grabbed hers and she was swung backward, dipped low, then soared into the air, the golden glow momentarily blinding her, and she touched ground again, skidded to a smiling, breathless halt.

Maybe it was the nature of the dance, or perhaps it was something only the Archons knew, but Asira always found herself back in the hold of this irritatingly coy man. And, she'd blame it on the dandelion wine, but she didn't mind at all.

Her chest heaved, body unconsciously leaning against the turquoise haired Capitan as the music finally died down, the crowd thinning in tandem as the bards and balladeers took their leave. Her fatigue and the six goblets of dandelion wine finally caught up. Asira made a weak attempt to step away, only to be tugged back against the soft fur of Kaeya's coat as they gently rocked back and forth, nothing but dying conversation and the Capitan's own hushed humming to guide them into rhythm. Asira found herself swaying along, that is, until she caught the stare of a certain red head from behind the counter.

"K-" a hiccup, "Kaeya, what are you doing?"

Said male only glanced down in response, lips twitching upwards as he soaked in the sight before him. "Unhand me this...this instant. I'll beat your ass when I'm sober!" Asira fumbled out, words nothing more than slurred curses at this point. Heavy blush from intoxication dusted her cheeks, addictive warm breath hitting Kaeya's bare neck as she tried another futile attempt to escape his hug, only to stumble forward and further entangle herself against the Capitan, head now buried into his chest.

"Why whatever do you mean? If anything I could be charging you for assault right now," Kaeya reached down, brushing her tangled mess of hair away from her face, deep indigo locks a sharp contrast against her flushed skin as he combed through it, "but I think I'll let my little subordinate off the hook this time~" Asira attempted to speak again, but Kaeya couldn't make out a word as she mumbled into his uniform. His hands rested delicately against her waist, the leather of her coat warm against his fingertips and she was lulled further into his embrace.

He smelled like mint flowers and the freshly polished marble of the Knight's Headquarters.

"I think it's time you took Miss Gienah home. Or, on second thought, have one of your lady knights do it for you. I don't trust you alone with her any longer."

A curt sigh left Kaeya's lips, and he turned around with a smirk, although his eyes lacked any such kindness as they settled on the man who spoke. "Oh my, this is the first time you've spoken to me or Asira the evening and she's already too drunk to respond." He narrowed his gaze. "She was rather looking forward to hearing your congratulations, Diluc."

Diluc didn't respond, gaze trained on the cup he was washing, hanging it to dry before stealing another glace at the girl sleeping peacefully in Kaeya's arms. He felt his fist tighten on the washcloth as she nuzzled further into the warmth of the Capitan's chest. "In case you didn't notice I was rather occupied with work, however I am sure she won't mind if I deliver my commendations tomorrow morning. I think it's due time you left though."

"Tsk," Kaeya leaned down, swinging the girl into his arms bridal style, "All these years and you remain a clueless bastard..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing dear brother, have a good night!"

Diluc yelled something about not calling him brother but Kaeya was already out the tavern door, chilled Mondstadt wind embracing him tightly as his eyes adjusted to the dark cobblestone streets of the city. Nothing but the occasional lamppost illuminated his way, the Cavalry Capitan biding farewell to the few knights he past on his way up the many flights of stairs, until he finally reached the lovely complex that the girl in his arms called home. Gentling balancing her weight on one arm he fished around in her coat's pocket before finding the housekey. A wry chuckle left his lips as he unlocked it, stepping inside.

"You know that was far too easy right?" The sleeping girl made no response. "Anybody could have just fumbled your key out and broke into your house. When you are drunk and utterly out of it no less, you could have been in mortal danger you know?" Was Kaeya aware he was talking to himself? Yes. Did he particularly mind that? Not at all.

Said male placed Asira on the nearest furniture- a couch- and turned back, debating whether to scour her room in an attempt to find sleepware more appropriate than her current Knight uniform and jacket, or to just take his leave now. Her uniform didn't appear to be the least bit comfortable: her armored leather coat was stiffly fitted along her body, not to mention her black iron arm guards and knee length boots.

"Well," Kaeya stole a quick glance at Asira's snoring form, "I don't forsee any harm in exploring a little bit. After so many years and I've never had the opportunity to see what's upstairs." He turned on the heels of his boots, about to ascend the first step when the old wood groaned below him, echoing in the once silent apartment.

"Shit."

Gulping, he glaced behind his shoulder, only to relax as he saw no visible changes in the girl. Would he recognize his mistake and forgo this foolish idea of further taking advantage of the situation and invading her privacy? Don't hold your breath.

Little more than a second afterwards he had already creeped onto the second step, head just about to see onto the second floor. "Now then little Sira, let's see what secrets youU- AGH!" Something yanked Kaeya back by the cape of his uniform, slamming the male into the wooden floor as he hissed out in pain.

"You have some nerve Glaceon."

The Capitan's vision was still a blur, but the weight on his abdomen and the purple sparks threateningly sparking around him kept him in place regardless.

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise, looks like you were awake after all! Hmm, don't tell me you were pretending this whole time so I could carry you delicately into your house and-"

"Do shut up."

"Aye aye Capitan~"

Asira groaned as she rolled her eyes, attempting to get off Kaeya only for her knees to buckle under her. Lurching forward, a gasp slips past her mouth, falling before she slams her palms down in an attempt to break her fall as best she could in the dark.

"As often as I imagine you on top of me this is hardly-" she opened her eyes, Kaeya groaning as his face twists in pain, "hardly what I had in mind!" Her knee was jammed in the tender flesh between his neck and shoulder, his voice breaking from the immense pressure.

Asira froze, Kaeya's voice snapping her back, causing her to immediately roll off with a thud. However she barely heard his cries of relief, face still flushed from the memory of his minty alcohol-laced breath against her lips.

_Does he know he has an actual star in his eye?_

She turned to face him on the floor beside her, still not registering any of the words that were passing through his lips. _I've always wondered why he wears that eyepatch, I've never once seen it off, not when we're on missions, not when he's soaked from rain or snow, not even when he sleeps. Maybe he has also has a hideous scar he wants to hide... But even if he did it wouldn't make him hideous..._

In the midst of her thoughts Asira found herself reaching over, brushing past his turquoise bangs as the rough cloth of the eyepatch shifted under her fingertips. Leaning in closer, Asira was about to prop herself up on her elbows, eyepatch lifting up from his moonsoaked face.

Until Kaeya snapped, pinning her wrists back as he flipped them over.

"What are you doing?"

Self control once again introduced itself into Asira's mind and she retracted, only, Kaeya's grip left her with little to return to. She swore they've been here before. She swore that he's looked at her this same way: silver light from the sole window contrasting his bronze skin, eyes possessing the brilliance of the night's ethereal stars yet the look shadowed in them was anything but holy. And as the loose ponytail he wore cascaded down his face and brushed along her cheek, Asira found herself drowning deeper and deeper into his gaze.

And yet when embraced by soft cologne of mint flowers and marble polish, she found herself longing the scent of red oak embers and cinnamon.

"I can never fathom what you see in that brooding brother of mine," Kaeya gently tugs her chin up, Asira raising an eyebrow as his lips brushed featherlight past hers. The ghost of his kiss tasted like Death After Noon against her own. "Come on, you can at least fake a reaction for my amusement, can't you Sira? I am not that repulsive now am I?" The heat from his body and breath only furthered the drunken blush along her cheeks.

_How was it he always seemed to read my mind?_

"I don't think you have ever properly looked in a mirror if you're raising a question like that." The male chuckled, lowering his head so it was now buried in the crook of her neck as the two lay in the unmoving dark. Kaeya interpreted the response as sarcasm from the newly made Capitan, but Asira meant it as anything but such. Truly, there was not a head the man didn't turn, if not for his looks and slightly eccentric outfit, than without a doubt from his captivating way of weaving stories, lies or not dripping like intoxicating honey, ensnaring anyone who was close enough to be caught in his spider's web.

"Hmm? Then go on, no need to be shy around your dear old friend, you know I'd never lay a finger on you until you _beg_ of it. Ask me out."

"Very well then. Get out."

Kaeya laughed, finally shifting his weight off the woman when a silent blast shook the house. The two froze.

Kaeya immediately sprung to his feet, sword glistening with cryo shards as Asira summoned out her dual blades, neither daring to breathe as the apartment was swallowed back into silence. Nothing. Nothing but the dim streetlights from the window and the flickering shadows they cast about the sleeping city seemed to move.

"That tremor... it was from the boundary Lisa summoned when I first received this house." Asira felt her grip on her swords tighten, and she fell to one knee. "Someone broke it."

Kaeya grimaced and began racing around the main floor, only to find untouched windows and locked balcony doors, not a single intrusion visible to the naked eye. He sheathed his sword, heading back to the entrance only to find Asira in the exact same position he had left her in, crouching against the wooden floor, eyes darting around the apartment as her knuckles turned white around the handles of her blades.

"I checked the entire premise, nothing seems out of place." He reached over, attempting to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Maybe Lisa's vision just suffered a little-"

"Don't touch me!" Asira screamed, flinching away from his touch. Her eyes contained the festering rage of storm clouds, breath fast and shallow, her whole body trembling uncontrollably as the air filled with static. She wasn't in her house anymore. Her mouth opened and gaped but her lungs refused to swallow. Sand. Her mouth filled with searing grains of sand and her body was on set fire, flesh burning, burning, burning, right through the wooden floor.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Kaeya placed his palm out, the other racing behind his back and clutching the hilt of his sword. _Damn it, why now! Albedo won't make it in time!_ "You have to listen to me Sira. Listen to my voice. You're safe and I won't let them hurt you again. I'm here now. Trust me, I won't let anyone take you away, s-so I need you to calm down."

She no longer sees his face before her, just a glowing sneer remained as she found herself frozen in place, willing her body to move to fight back to thrash around and free herself. But nothing responded. The smell of burning flesh now filled every crevice of her lungs and she could taste it against her tongue.

"Unhand me..." Asira's said in a hoarse whisper. Kaeya didn't hear and inched closer, sword now fully drawn behind him as he tried to lower the blades in her hand, movements slowing as the girl froze.

"Unhand me!"

A blast of lightning erupted from the center of the room. Sparks tear and thrash at the walls as they begin to swarm the kneeling girl, smell of burning flesh and the distorted screams from Asira's throat filling the apartment. _I'm too late!_ Kaeya twisted his blade, lunging straight into the eye of the storm as he called out one last time-

"ASIRA!"

A layer of frost encased the floor as the girl collapsed. Kaeya also plummeted to the ground, gasping for air as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

That was much too close.

Purple lightning occasionally erupted from her skin, only to forcefully retreat back by the cold blanket of ice. Asira clutched her chest, her heart aflame she felt its drumming beat skyrocket as blood rushed past her ears. It burned. It burned like the ice against her fiery skin, as if her chest was being ripped open and sown together over and over and over again.

She had almost lost control over it again. Asira jabbed her fist against her chest, finally feeling her heart rate deescalate as she looked up from the floor.

"It's just me." Kaeya flashed a weak smile, "I'm unharmed but I can see the burns on your hands from here. Let's get you to Albedo immediately so he can begin with those wounds and take another look at the restraining spell."

"It's fine."

Kaeya didn't look convinced, watching with creased brows as she attempted to stagger to her feet. "Let me help you up at least. As a Knight-"

"I said it's fine!"

Neither moved. Eventually Kaeya nodded, walking towards the exit as he gave a quick pat on her shoulder. No words were spoken as he left, closing the door gently behind him, but Asira felt her house tremble as he left. Again she turned to the window, eyes focusing on the amber hues dotting the streets the sleeping city below as she repeated the dame phrase under her breath. _I am in Mondstadt. I am safe._

Asira found her way into the kitchen, rubbing her arms in an attempt to quell the tremors that continued in spite of herself. _It has been five years. I am no longer in danger. I am safe._

_Hot water, three sprigs of Mint Flower, half of Snapdragon, and a drop on honey._

Asira repeats the recipe to herself as the kettle whistles, the girl changing out from her uniform as the subtle sounds of wind and the teapot echo through the apartment.

_Wait. Wind?_

Asira felt her breath hitch and she snapped towards the window. It was open.

Willing, pleading, begging, her heart to stop racing, she walked over and shut it, kitchen thrown into dark silence as a wave of clouds crawled over the moon, swallowing it whole like a hungry beast. "I'm just being paranoid. And drunk. Very very drunk."

With that forced reasoning Asira turned and nodded her head, pouring the kettle's steaming contents into a single ceramic cup. She ignored how her hand was trembling in the dark as she raised the cup. A forced chuckle flew from her lips. _I can never brew it quite as well as Sucrose can._

It was only after the cloud had relinquished its bloody black hold on the moon did its silver rays once again illuminated her home.

It was then she saw it.

Laying on the center of her floor was a mask. A beautifully carved piece of art, base black like onyx yet dawned with inky purple to navy feathers and bloody opal shards, beak casting a shadow too harsh for any earthly metal to replicate. And on it sat a note.

ℱ _rom,_

_your dear_ ℋ _arleyquin, until we meet again._

A cup shattered and the world went silent.

Fatui.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

so we have met our heroin, 

however truth be told we don't know enough to say she isn't really the enchantress. 

your comments and kudos make my day, and stay on the lookout for the next update 


	3. Act 2

_Fatui._

Asira whirled around, her body still pathetically weak from her previous outburst, and she clutched her chest. The constraints Albedo imbedded into her heart dug deeper, chains now mercilessly crushing the organ as she felt another wave threatening to escape, clawing and thrashing against its restraints. She felt her own blood stain its jaws, spilling over the chains and over the cage, spilling right back into the monster's waiting mouth.

But when she was forced back into reality the mask was the only thing remaining sight. Who or whatever brought it was long gone. Or at least, that was the only thought Asira could summon to help sedate the rampaging storm from breaking loose.

She collapsed before the mask, lifting its feathered frame up as she stared into its hollow eyes, seemingly aglow with laughter, mocking her deteriorating state. "I don't understand." Her grip tightened. "How did they find me? W-Why? Why after throwing me to hell and back, why after implanting such a—"

A knock came from the wooden door of her apartment.

Asira threw the mask behind the kitchen counter, biting the inside of her lip as she began her approach to the entrance. The tang of blood flooded her scenes and she winced. Summoning one of her two blades she sucked in a breath, tensing, before blasting the door open wide.

"Apologizes for the late intrusion but I..."

Asira froze at the voice, blinking in confusion as the visitor's bewildered crimson gaze shifted from her disheveled appearance to the raw electrical burns along her arms to the sparking blade still clutched threateningly in her hand. "Archons what on Teyvat happened to you?"

"Diluc." Her mouth went dry. Of all the people in Mondstadt Diluc was the absolute last she would risk seeing the mask. "You have to leave."

That was undoubtedly the wrong thing to say. The man immediately narrowed his gaze, grabbing her wrist as he pulled her arm up to further investigate her new wounds, lips twitching downward as she flinched from his mere touch. Diluc slowly took another step forward, and Asira noted the way his grip lightened, gloved hand trailing up her arm with utmost delicacy, warmth radiating off of the Pyro's touch as he traced all the way until the scars disappeared beneath her evening shirt. Only then he hesitated.

"These are your Electro burns, what happened here Asira? Where is Kaeya?" He tsked, "I give him one task to bring you safely home and instead I find you with scars all shaken up." It was her turn to frown.

"Master Diluc I have said I am perfectly fine." His scowl intensified at the title she tagged along to his name. "Sir Kaeya had escorted me home, I was just reckless from the evening's events and it seems my seal has gone loose. I'll be heading to the Alchemy Labs first thing in the morning."

Asira retreated and attempted to shut the door but the red haired male stuck his foot in the doorway, refusing to let her go so easily. He fought to meet her gaze and her chest tightened at the damned desperate look in his eyes. _Don't. Don't look at me like that._

"Asira, if he did anything to you I swear—"

"Archons, your brother is a fine Knight and an even finer friend. I don't know why you insist on painting his as a villain even here! At least he had the decency to congratulate me and reminisce a little, not ignore me as if we haven't been companions and allies and who knows what more for over three years!"

Asira slapped her hands over her mouth and fell back, door slamming shut from her sudden weight against it. But from the soft thump outside she knew Diluc had yet to walk away. His gloved hand brushed by the door handle, pausing, and then retreating as he leaned against the wood frame.

"You're right." A forced chuckled left his lips. "I have been a most disgraceful friend recen- for a long time. But for what it's worth I..." another sigh from the other side of the door. "Never mind it, I will not hold you here any longer. Please get lots of rest and don't hesitate to come to the winery for anything, you always know where to find me." Asira tilted to face the dark ceiling, head resting against the cool wood of the door as she heard the retreating footsteps and the fading clink of a claymore. That dull rhythmic sound carved into the base and bone of her skull. Yes, Diluc's very existence had become engrained into her soul.

But like the smoke and embers he summoned she could never stop him from slipping out from her fingers, burning her skin raw as they escape into their aimless fight to the eternal night sky.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

Asira knocked on the door, however it was already ajar, allowing her to peak in. She knew both Albedo and Sucrose would be too busy to greet her even if they wanted to. Stepping in, the bubbling blue glow of the lab engulfed her, and she wrinkled her nose at the putrid burning smell. Was it enhanced slime concentrate? Or perhaps Sucrose tripped and burnt sulfur again? But before Asira could even raise her question, the mint-haired girl noticed her, sparing a small wave before the bunsen burner below her sparked.

"W-Welcome back, Mister Albedo is out in the-" a scream as her test tube caught on fire, "in the back!" Asira knew better than to try helping, and simply stayed out of the poor assistant's way as she rushed to stack of designated emergency buckets of water.

"You have my thanks Sucrose," she continued further into the lab, calling out behind her as the girl got the flames under control, "How much do you want to wager he's slacking off and sketching you?" Sucrose dropped the bucket, steam practically radiating from her hat, incoherent stutters escaping her lips as Asira giggled, closing the door behind her. Perhaps she should refrain from teasing her dear friend when surrounded by thousands of dangerous chemicals... Asira shrugged. 

_It's fine. The damage could only be as bad as one of Klee's explosive rampage anyways._

The underground halls finally led up into yet another lab, this one lacking the overwhelming scent of Sucrose's concoctions, air now filled with that of wet paint and a variety of native and foreign plants dotting the hallway. "Albedo, pardon my intrusion." Asira unlocked the door, greeted with the overwhelming sight of flora- climbing green vines, thickets of shrubs, and batches of flying and crawling flowers crowding the entrance as they spiraled up against the domed rooftop. This was their Alchemist's playground- the greenhouse.

All this foliage still felt so foreign to her. Asira's birthplace was a harsh opposite to this warmly lit forest, memories of its barren icy landscape an icy shard imbedded into her mind, horrid cold only rivaled by the cold festering in the people's hearts. Her hands felt numb, remembering the frozen metal raw against her once small, frail, frostbitten palm. She brushed her fingers against a nearby batch of glowing ivy, scanning all the foliage against the white iron and glass frame. She's been gone for years and yet it seemed that the cold breathing down her neck was only getting closer.

But she has a mission to complete, and a certain blonde man was no where to be found.

Asira knew better than to rush in, carefully surveying the foliage to make sure there were no hidden Whooperflowers or, Archons forbid, another hungry Regisvine flower ready to swallow her whole. A shiver raced down her spine at the memory.

Albedo had a undeterred fascination for creating life, despite its shunned outlook among his scientific community, and coupled with Sucrose's constant upgrades and genetic enhancements to flora and fauna alike, it was safe to assume there would always be at least on thing in the greenhouse that could claim your life.

"Hello? Chalk Prince, where o' where could you be?" Her calls echoed unanswered. Asira huffed, unsheathing a single sword as she began her trek further into the greenhouse, constantly batting or swatting away branches or sentient vines. It was when she began spotting scraped drawings- half finished crumpled up pieces of paper haphazardly thrown amongst the plants- that she knew she was close.

"Albedo?"

Finally, after parting a waterfall of lilac blooming vines, she entered a paved alcove, white stone path leading to the alchemy table where the familiar blonde was all but lost in thought. Asira's face brightened and a smirk bloomed along her features. Crouching low, she crept towards the unsuspecting male, peaking over his cloaked shoulder and at the sketchbook her was so fixated on. And it was as she guessed. A certain mint-haired female, this time donned in an ethereal ballgown type dress, was sketched along its page, Albedo's pencil adding hues to her hair and down her delicately drawn face.

"Marvelous, however, I fear she may come to life if you make her any more detailed, wouldn't you agree?"

The poor boy screamed, jumping from his chair as he abruptly shut the sketchbook. Albedo scrambled to his alchemy station, reordering bottles in an attempt to calm his flushed face, all the while Asira doubled over from laughter behind him. "I thought I told you to refrain from pulling such pranks on my while I'm w-working." She snorted at his fumbling.

"Work. Of course. My apologies, I'll remember that for next time." Albedo turned just to glare at her.

"Well, what is it you request this time? If I remember correctly you aren't in for a study today, Sucrose and I are still analyzing your results from the last phylogenetic test."

Her smile faded. Asira approached the alchemy station, glancing around before finding the familiar sludgy green ointment, opening its glass cap. The familiar scent of the gel filled the air and she let it drip onto her raw fingers. It burned as it seeped into the scars.

"Last night I..." Albedo stopped messing around with the bottle of solutions in his hands, greenhouse now thrown into eerie silence. "The seal loosened. There were some disturbances and it threatened to escape again."

Asira flinched at the sound of glass shattering against the greenhouse floor. Albedo immediately crouched, scrambling to pick the shards back up, his eyebrows creased in worry as his grip on the counter tightened.

"How long did it last?" he asked, voice hushed.

"I'm not entirely certain, around five minutes? Kaeya was with me, he aided in getting it back under control." The blonde looked as if he wanted to question what the Cavalry Capitan was doing at her apartment so late after the ceremony, but decided against it. Asira already knew of his distrust for the Cryo user. Albedo reached down, scrambling below the drawers before pulling out the emergency gauze and bandages. Asira had already uncapped the ointment in her hands, removing her iron gauntlets and trailing coat with a grimace. The burns climbing along her arms were now raw and charred, skin threatening to tear along their lightning bolt pathways. "They aren't as severe anymore..."

Albedo payed no heed, jaw locked and lips pressed into a frown that only deepened as she exposed the fresh wounds trailing down her back and spiraling up her neck. 

_I know I'm hideous, but please, must you stare that hard?_

Asira continued to undress, unbuttoning her vest and shirt just enough so her shoulders and arms were fully exposed, tying up her hair as best she could so it wouldn't stick to the potent ointment. The alchemist hesitated, eyes traveling from her fingertips to collarbones, pausing as he saw the tip of the gnarled scar right above her heart. His eyes shot to the ground. Albedo had failed to heal that one. Try as he did, but no amount of alchemy ever restored the disfigured stitches. It was like burning a once pure flower and expecting it to return to its natural form- nothing can restore ashes to the delicate petals they once were. Nothing.

Albedo was halfway done with the bandages when he resolved to strike up conversation again, careful as he approached another area of her neck already riddled with scars. "Regarding your seal," Asira flinched he spread the gel across an open wound. "Was there a certain event that triggered its weakening? I don't recall separating or damaging my Vision within the past twenty-four hours, so I don't see how the restraint chains could suddenly slip. Unless this is some sort of progression of this thing housed inside you..."

Asira's hand rose, fingers grazing over the scar across her heart absentmindedly. "In all honesty I do not know. Last night I felt the boundary-" she stopped. She couldn't tell Albedo about the breach in the boundary, if she did then she risked accidentally going too far and mentioning the mask. The mask. Harlequin. _No, no one could find out about the mask, that would be much too risky. If they saw and insisted on looking into it then they might..._

Albedo narrowed his eyes, the girl said nothing but he could feel her pulse suddenly race under his touch.

"Asira?"

She shot upright. "Y-Yes. I am just as perplexed as you, however nothing out of the ordinary occurred, I felt perfectly well during the ceremony and admit to being intoxicated when the Capitan escorted me home but nothing of note occurred." Asira prayed to Barbatos that the alchemist didn't see straight through her lies. She was no near as good at weaving together nonsensical stories as Kaeya, but she had picked up on his skills and hoped they wouldn't fail her now. If it were about anything else such a lie would prove to be no struggle at all. _But that mask.._.

Albedo felt her heartrate pick up again.

"Are you sure that this episode didn't have to do with the Cavalry Capitan?" Asira blinked. "I mean, he was in your quarters so late at night, and I'm no stranger to how he looks at you. Then again, I cannot say that I see anything in his obnoxiously flirty mannerism. I contest he talks sweet but I for one fail see any charm in that suave-"

_Huh? Wait. Is he implying that Kaeya and I..._

"-but afterall, sexual intercourse is a natural drive that every living creature, both man and not, is compelled to kneel to. In fact I recently ran a study on how certain concentrations of how—"

"Albedo! I did not fuck the Capitan!"

The greenhouse fell into silence once more. The blonde was usually quick to respond with witty remarks or scold her for her foul language, yet he did not reply, a sheepish smile forced on his face as he seemed to be looking right past Asira. _Don't tell me._

"My my, am I interrupting something personal?"

_Splendid._

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

welcome back traveler. 

currently Acts 1-9 are written but due to school and testing beginning once more our journey may be long till we see each other next. 

take care and stay well.


	4. Act 3

"Do continue sweetheart, I'd love to hear more."

Asira whirled around, "Kaeya I swear on Barbados if you utter one more-" a hiss escaped her lips halfway, girl doubling over as her newly patched wounds burned from the sudden movement. She bit her lip, turning back as her arms and chest throbbed in pain. Archons, that smug Cryo user never failed to rial her up with the simplest of words. A damned talent indeed.

Albedo merely huffed, tying up his hair before donning a pair of surgical gloves with a snap. "My _sincerest_ apologies Quartermaster, but the new Capitan of Reconnaissance requires emergency treatment. I'll have to ask for you to leave. Now." The sharp undertone of uninterest didn't go unnoticed by either of the Captains. But Kaeya's wolffish smile didn't falter.

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait pretty boy," The Cryo user motioned behind him, several guards emerging from the deep foliage of the greenhouse. "There has been an emergency summons, all Captains are to report to the Great Hall. Immediately."

A blink.

Asira jumped to her feet, buttoning her shirt back up and slipping on her coat, black and purple leather now darkly contrasting the white of the bandages peaking through her collar. Seeing their haste Albedo wasted no time either, strapping his sword back on as he sped after Kaeya and Asira out of the greenhouse and into the Knight's Headquarters.

_An emergency meeting? Don't tell me..._

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

"Settle down! Settle down my Knights!"

Echoing demands shook the Hall, arguments and conversations dying out as everyone's attention was drawn to the man standing at the apex of the marble table. The Grand Master himself- Varka. Asira felt herself stiffen in her seat, the growing feeling of being utterly out of place among the remaining Captains.

His voice rang firm, but she still felt uneasy. Master Varka was not one for formalities and certainly not one known for planning. He was more stubborn than accommodating; lavishing in the rush of uncertainty and in reckless- however successful- adventure. But his gaze was serious, wholly focused on the matter at hand, and in moments like these she understood why he was titled the Titan of the Knights Of Favonious. However, within his concentrated gaze was an underlying visage that she not dare name.

To say that Master Varka did not enjoy war would be a lie. It was not that he enjoyed bloodshed, but he enjoyed the challenge and thrill that battle brings. His sheer skill in combat and in strength was unparalleled, yes, but the one thing that drove him beyond all else was the lust for adventure. For a challenge. He was someone who enjoyed the trial, being pushed to his limits and beyonds, just to see how far he could surpass mortal bounds.

But what flickered within his eyes was not the anticipation that came with adrenaline. 

Asira not dare speak the word on her tongue but there was no doubt in what she saw amid that dark, drowning, forlorn shadow that threatened to overtake his ice frosted eyes. It was a feeling none of them have been able to shake. However just as quickly as she had noticed it, the quivering disappeared, Varka demanding the attention of everyone with a mere swoop of his arm.

"It is true," the Grand Master continued, gloved hands brushing along his short beard as his face furrowed. "The Fatui's second Harbinger, Sandrone The Puppet, is at Mondstadt's gates. Our Knights are retaining him and his agents at bay but he requested an audience with—"

"Is it true he has a mountain of Ruin Guard and Hilichurl heads claiming them as offerings? What on Archons is happening out there!"

"Have they come to claim compensation again?"

"I've witnessed the damned Fatui scheming for longer than a fortnight, this could have been foreseen!"

"SILENCE!"

Asira sharply inhaled. The complains halted just as abruptly as they began, hall thrown into a suffocating silence. Varka let out a gruff sigh, movement causing the enormous claymore across his back to clang. "I apologize for placing you all in this situation. However..." he looked up, eyes harsh as steal, devoid of their usual jovial nature. "The Puppet has yet to explain his business here, and until we have confirmed their intentions as malicious we will not act against them. Understood?"

Immediate murmuring and curses of disbelief erupted across the table. However Varka was not deterred. Deep down even he held more than a few suspicions about Shezhnaya, but Mondstadt's diplomatic nature depended on that shady agency. Everything from Shezhnaya's unparalleled military strength to the sheer power they've accumulated through the Northland bank was unrivaled throughout Tevyat. And with rising tensions both from the snowy nation and from Inazuma alike, Varka knew not to make more enemies at the dawn of war's day. But he felt that the light of diplomacy was nearing its end.

"I will not confirm nor deny the corpses of Mages and Monsters, but I consider it greatly distasteful to flaunt such gruesome trophies before my city's gates. The importance lies in what The Puppet has offered to tell us."

The Great Hall fell into tense silence. Waiting. Listening. Praying.

"He claims to know the identity of the Abyss Order Princess."

The meeting continued until the once golden rays of the sun painted the Hall's window a fading blend of orange purple and navy gold. Asira found herself a frequent target of questions, having to recall many of her reconnaissance missions across Mondstadt. She couldn't quiet to meet their gaze, but explained to them that she had already began preparations. Summoning an army of electro-infused swords, she had scattered them around the whole of Mondstadt's walls, their sparking connection more than able to ward off any immediate intruders should the Fatui try anything. Varka and the other Capitans accepting this, Kaeya flashing her a proud smile before the Capitans moved on to negotiation preparations should the need arise.

However as time progressed it grew terrifyingly clear that something far grander and more sinister was afoot. Something none of them could even begin to grasp.

As the conversation shifted again, this time going into medical details, Asira finally granted a moment and allowed herself to fully breathe again. _This... This is all too coincidental. First The Raven mask and now The Puppet himself appears at Mondstadt's gates?_

Asira clenched on her chair's marble armrests, and despite her silent pleas she felt burning sparks begin to erupt from her fingertips.

 _What are the Fatui planning that involves Mondstadt- no- the whole of Teyvat?_ Her eyes widen, but she shakes her head before any other Capitan noticed the way her arms trembled.

_No, they abandoned that plan over a decade ago, there's no way that... that they found a way to make Delusions work._

Meanwhile, a certain Cavalry Capitan had grown increasingly bored from this drawn out meeting. Had this gone his way he would already be at the front gates, investigating matters himself. As much as Kaeya hated to admit, he saw nothing but truth in his stubborn brother's famous words- The Knights of Mondstadt are inefficient at best. It was solely at times like these did he find himself agreeing with that insufferable Pyro.

But his attention quickly shifted away from his brother, the memories leaving a horribly bitter taste against his tongue, focusing back into the meeting at hand when his eyes landed on Asira. Kaeya didn't miss the way he face had gone pale ever since the mention of the Fatui's Puppet. How intriguing.

 _Perhaps she already knew something from one of her reconnaissance missions?_ He narrowed his eyes. _What are you not saying my dear Sira?_

Still lost in half-hearted speculation, Kaeya caught sight of an all too familiar hawk, its observant amber eyes locking right on his as it peered through the committee hall's grand window. _All my thinking about the damned Pyro must have summoned him, huh._

"Sir Kaeya? Is something the matter?"

"Hmm," The turquoise haired male just waved his hand dismissively before resting his chin against it. "Oh not in the slightest, a little birdie caught my eye is all." His response seemed to satisfy the others- as much as such a halfwitted answer could- and to his delight the meeting adjourned as the sun lets the last of its golden veil slip behind the mountains outlining Mondstadt.

Kaeya was the first to exit the Great Hall, lazy smile ever present as he watched the red hawk spread its wings, flying until it disappeared under the night sky. Looking back over, a majority of the Captains were still huddled together, atmosphere no less tense than in the beginning of the day. He found it hard to breathe. All the more reason to leave as soon as he could. Besides, Kaeya knew it was much more efficient to do his own scouting, actions speak louder than words, no?

He let his eyes lock with Asira's, but unlike usual where the women would send him a playful eye roll or stick out her tongue, her silver eyes were dull. Lifeless. _I assume she's more concerned about the Fatui than I had originally thought... can't say I fully blame her, so quickly after her appointment and Mondstadt is already in grave danger. Lucky~_

Kaeya chuckled in spite of himself, exiting the Knight's Headquarters as he was greeted with the chilling night winds.

"She'll be fine. If there's any Knight who could handle it, it would be her."

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

apologies for the short chapter traveler,

however there will be another this week so keep your eyes open


	5. Act 4

Back in the candlelit building, Asira stood half listening to the conversation before her. Albedo and the Medical Corps Capitan, Lainao, were discussing the potential use of genetically altered Wooperflowers to defend the city gates... or something along those lines. Asira got lost while the two Capitals progressed into the details of the Flora genome.

And besides, the image of the inky feathered mask appeared every time she blinked, not to mention words of the Fatui and The Puppet.

"Excellent! According to Sucrose's observations, the manifestation of the flower's external elemental flow is as expected, all elemental reactions are normal however amplified. In addition, when we get further into the phylogenetic relationships we can uncover all the discrepancies between the subjects."

Albedo nodded enthusiastically. "How fascinating, I'm sure my team and I can lend a hand with dissections and readings at least. I'm sure the anatomy will prove an interesting find to some medication and perhaps sedatives. Asira what do you think of the idea?" The blonde Capitan turned, eyebrow raised as he stepped closer.

"Asira?"

"I apologize but I have to go. I have to see someone. I promise we can continue at another time." 

Before Asira even had a chance to think her legs already began to move on their own, carrying out of the Headquarters and dashing into the city. The two Captains were left dumbfounded, however Asira knew they wouldn't dwell on it for long, their conversation quickly reeling back to alchemy and medicine alike.

Her swords clinked against the metal lining her coat, their weight a comforting normality as she traced an all-too-familiar path in the darkened city. She slipped into an alleyway, squeezing though two buildings before catching sight of the candle lit entrance of the tavern.

Angel's Share.

Asira hesitated, semi-gloved hand hovering over the doors handle before pulling back. He won't be open yet. She glanced up, noticing the amber light that filtered through the dim windows, signaling that at a certain bartender may still be inside. The backdoor.

Picking up the pace, Asira made her way to the back alley, having to squint to make out the light deprived staircase leading up to the tavern's balcony and backdoor. She felt the ghost of a smile grace her lips as she remembered the nights of her and Kaeya slipping in, much to Diluc's frustration, nights filled with lighter memories: from the first time she tasted Barbados' famous wine, to when the Cavalry Captain and her had a chugging contest with Death After Noon, to the time Diluc treated her to red wine atop her roof under the stars. But the world has gotten much more gruesome and unforeseeable. The Fatui have gotten more unforeseeable.

Now was no time to reminisce about the past.

Silently closing the terrace door behind her, Asira was about to make her way down the tavern stairs when the front door swung open. Out of instinct she crouched, eyes widening before she narrowed in confusion. The man who entered, clad in a white fur coat exposing jacket and navy uniform to match was no difficulty to identify, and yet Asira couldn't help but stay silent as he took a seat before the still-hidden bar tender.

"One Death After Noon please."

Asira heard the hesitant shuffling of boots, a glass sliding across the bar and into view as the turquoise haired Capitan downed a gulp.

"So, I trust you heard everything?" Kaeya smirked, lazily cocking his eyebrow as he swirled the drink in his palm. Asira couldn't see who he was talking to, the beams of the railing blocking the counter from sight, vantage point rendering all her attempts in vain. However as soon as she heard them respond the answer clicked without a shadow of doubt.

"We aren't open for business yet."

_Diluc._

"I finally have my bearings regarding certain recent events. Just humor me, will ya?" Questions flooded her mind, and despite the guilt of eavesdropping clawing vigerously at her subconscious, Asira found herself unable to walk away. She stilled, leaning down further as the subtle clink of ice against the glass caught her attention in the silence. The red-head tsked before responding again.

"Remind me again why I should care?"

"Oh silly me! Did I forget to mention it had something to do with a certain... Delusion? One you believe was left behind by your father, no?"

Asira's eyes widened and she slammed her hands over her mouth, nearly falling backwards at the mention of the Delusion. A bag of unopened flour cushioned her fall, however she still heaved, hands unwilling to release her jaw in fear of what might escape.

_How do they know of the Delusions? And Diluc, what does he and his father have to do with them? I... I don't understand!_

Kaeya's chillingly calm voice continued. "It turns out prejudice is hindrance, such as with this new development with the Abyss Order and The Puppet. Some believe the Fatui to be behind it, but you... you know the implications of this newly identified power more than anyone. So if it were indeed a devious plan to obliterate Mondstadt and the Knights, then there wouldn't even be any threads left to trace it back to them." A gasp, so painfully fake, and a chuckle left Kaeya's lips. "Oh? But Mondsadt's _trivial_ matters don't matter to you anymore. Isn't that right, ex-Capitan now vigilante?"

"Are you here to provoke me or will you get to the point? Angel's Share opens in one hour, and now that the emergency summons is over I have no need to allow you here." Kaeya laughs at the red head's threat, waving it off.

"Alright alright. But we have seen this pattern with the Fatui before- everything is conveniently going according to their plan. Just as the Abyss Order rises and throws the whole of Teyvat into panic, the second harbinger himself, Puppet imp, appears at our front gates, severed heads of thousand Abyss Mages in tow, proclaiming to know the identity of their leader. Sound familiar?"

Diluc scoffs. "The Fatui play hero. They have been for years. If you are here to repeat to me what I already know then I see no reason to waste my time on you."

"Now now, your dear brother Kaeya has made a little more deduction than that." Diluc glared at the word 'brother' but didn't interrupt, "Back to your Delusion. I won't pry as to where it is, but it seems as if the Fatui know a little more than they should, not only about the Knights but about Mondstadt and our internal affairs as well." 

Asira felt as though she could suffocate at the sheer tension flooding the air, the silence following Kaeya's accusation unbearable at best.

"Are you suggesting we have a _traitor_ in our midsts?" Another scoff, "That's just the convenient answer, there is no evidence to suspect anyone in the Knights. In any case it fails to concern me. Handle your subordinates better and perhaps this wouldn't be an issue." Kaeya simply nodded in response, smile spreading like an open wound as he glanced back at the ice in his drink.

"Still so cold? You know technically someone of normal civilian status shouldn't even know this much. Even someone as _important_ as you."

"And?"

"Haha, never mind it! I've held you back for long enough, but do me a favor, for your dear brother? Something tells me the Fatui are after something or someone in Mondstadt. And whether or not that connects to this new Delusion piece is something I have yet to solidify, but put your late night brooding to use and do some scouting for me, ya?"

Not a word passes through Diluc's irritated frown as he walks right by the smirking Capitan, "When the Fatui mess in my affairs, I return the favor."

"Glad to see we are finally on the same page."

By the time Diluc unlocks the tavern to open Kaeya already finished his drink, standing to leave without so much as a glance back at the red head. Neither noticed their extra listener.

Asira's arms fell limp to her side. She underestimated it all. She underestimated just how relentlessly her past would chase her, and now she lay, bleeding and broken, only able to watch in knowing horror as the bloody jaws of her ghosts closed in for the final time. Only a fool could think the past would actual forgive. The past was a savage beast ungoverned by any laws and undeterred of any mortal feats, driven only by its undying hunger for revenge.

And Asira was long overdue.

She clutched the edge of the railing for support, forcing herself to remain calm. Her other hand rose to stroke the insignia branded at her heart— an instinctive, agitated gesture. Her head slams against the nearest wall, girl pulling herself back to her feet as she cursed at her shaking legs. She would be damned if she stopped fighting. 

"I'm so tired of running. I'm tired of running after the two of you and damn tired of running from the past." Asira whispered, eyes a mirrorless silver storm as she watched Kaeya exit the tavern without a word.

"It's time to find out what exactly you have been keeping from me."

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

oh it has been far too long, 

however the next chapter is quite a spicy one~

until our paths cross again, farewell


	6. Act 5

Asira huffed desperately into her hands, fingers numbing purple despite her vigorous rubbing. Damn it was cold. She welcomed the rush of warm gush of wind from the library, shutting the giant wooden doors behind her. "Winter mornings like this remind me more and more of that horrid place." 

Another huff.

Boots clicking against the marble flooring, Asira made her way into the restricted area of the library, couple of knights saluting her as she nodded in acknowledging. The cluttered mix of books quickly shifted into rows upon rows of hyper organized binders, reports, and all assortments of records and items retrieved from expeditions all dimly lit by the candle chandeliers. The faint smell of dust vanished and instead an underwhelming scent of old books, the outdoors, and dried blood hung in the air.

Asira recognized some of her own films and items from her reconnaissance missions— files of information on the Thousand Winds Temples, a vitalized dragon tooth from Dragonspire encased behind glass, and various documents filled with classified information on everything from Mondstadt diplomats to the Archons. But in the three years that she had worked up from a mere assistant to the Capitan of her own sector, she never had a mission regarding the Fatui.

I suppose they don't trust me yet.

A shadow cast upon her face as Asira continued deeper into a library. _Can't say I blame them. I wouldn't trust myself either..._

Not allowing herself to dwell on it, Asira shook her head and continued down, finally reaching another locked-off portion of the library where a set of Knights guarding this one as well. She didn't have a sigil of permission, yet she knew better than to think a simple distraction or ruckus would force them to leave their spots. Her silver eyes narrowed. No, this would need to be done relying on nothing but her pure persuasion prowess. Archons help me.

Asira emerged from behind one of the many bookshelves, standing tall as her swords clinked against the metal decor tailing on her coat uniform. The two guards straightened immediately, and gave a sharp salute without a second delay.

"Good morning Sir Athos," she turned to the latter, "Sir Porthos. Do either of you know where Miss Lisa may be at this time?" She prayed to Barbados her memory hadn't failed her and she didn't just call these two poor guards completely random names.

"Mis- Captain!" The title still tasted strange against her tongue, however she didn't correct Porthos as he continued. "Miss Lisa recently received an emergency summon from the Acting Grand Master, I do not know what for however it sounded urgent!" Acting Grand Master? Oh, of course. After the meeting at the Grand Hall yesterday Varka left alongside some of the top fighters and scientists of Mondstadt to accompany The Puppet in the chase for the Abyss Leader. And of course Jean was appointed in his absence. She felt her fist clench at her side at the thought of the picture-perfect blonde woman.

"That works out brilliantly, fortunately." Asira lied through her teeth, "Chief Albedo sent me down here to ask Miss Lisa to retrieve several documents on enhanced Whooperflower DNA, however retrieving it myself would be much more efficient for both myself and our busy librarian." Athos and Porthos shared an incredulous glance. Asira bit her lip, looks like it'll take slightly more persuasion than that.

"I mean no disrespect Capitan, but The Grandmaster himself instructs every guard to only allow those with sigils of permission in. Do you have one to show?" Porthos questioned, and the raven-haired female flashed a smile, raising her hands above her head to display empty palms.

"Why of course not."

The two guards stood dumbfounded at her straightforward response. Crossing her arms, Asira tilted her chin up, lips pursed into a straight line as she glared at the two males before her. "However let me ask you this. If Knight Jean were here would you demand a sigil?"

They hesitated. "No but-"

"If Master Kaeya, or I even dare say Ex-Master Diluc were here would you dare to request a sigil on such an unimportant matter? Especially during such a time of crisis where I nor any other Capitan have the luxury of spending our time in wait of getting a slip of paper signed?"

"No, I do not think we would..."

"Then why have you found it necessary to deny my entry for something as simple as documentations that myself and another Capitan have written up ourselves?" The two guards lowered their gaze, unable to continue as they parted the polearms blocking the dual doors. Porthos was the only who dared speak, voice low as he took another salute at the Captain.

"We apologize for the inconvenience! If I may request one thing, please notify us when you take your leave." Asira hummed in response, entering the closed off sector before slamming the doors behind her.

_That was far too close for comfort._

Asira breathed out a small laugh before continuing into the archives, having to grab a lantern from the wall to light her way among the vastly darker area. Here bookshelves spiraled up for several stories, the darkness undoubtedly purposeful to keep their priceless contents preserved for as long as possible. However she did admit it made everything much harder to find.

Wandering deeper into the library, the spiraling shelves rose up to a domed window, the crux of it all housing a translucent gold chandelier, flickers of candlelight and leftover sun cascading across the vast room. It would take years to read every file stored here.

After racking through shelves upon shelves of reports, Asira finally located one with the all-too-familiar symbol sketched onto its pages. That red and black circle, an almost eye-like pattern spiraling around its jagged center.

The icon of the Fatui.

Struggling to get the first book out, Asira quickly began flipping through its contents. It had taken her well over twenty minutes to simply find the section on the organization, and there was no telling how much time she had left before one of the guards or another Knight spotted her shuffling through the classified files.

The first few reports held no new information, their contents simply detailing the... visible side of the Fatui, basically just information on the Northland Bank, on their diplomacy records across Tevyat, and other seemingly useless information. It was nothing compared to their workings behind the scenes.

After scanning through the next binders, Asira stumbled upon more personal information—information on the Eleven Harbingers. Only six had their photo attached, majority just containing a bare minimum description along with their title. Turning the pages, she eventually arrived at the First of the Harbingers, hand faltering as she stared at the empty page. The Jester. Pedrolino, a character known for their wit, a deceitful servant who reeks havoc for the thrill of it all. Asira's hand shook and she was snapped back to reality only by a an echoing boom.

She had dropped the book.

Bending back over to pick it up Asira paused before opening the cover, eyes now hyperfocused on her hand. It was shaking.

_The Jester, huh? The man is no servant, yes like the rest of the Fatui he is at Tsarista's beck and call, however he possesses more than enough power and knowledge to turn the whole of Tevyat into his own warzone._

And worst of all Asira knew he was psychotic enough to do it. _Of course he is, look what he did to his own—_

Asira slapped herself before gripping her arm with an iron hold, forcing the quivering to stop. She hadn't come here to glance at half-empty pages, and she was running out of time to find what she really needed.

Forcing herself to place the binder back, Asira continued scanning until something caught her eye on the far end of the shelf above her. Climbing up the iron staircase, the hidden glow got clearer as she drew near. A vision seal. Luckily Albedo had taught her just enough that she managed to untangle the symbols, seal breaking with a quick burst of electro energy.

"What... What is this?" In the small box sat a few sheets of paper, an obvious ash smell wavering as she spotted the burn marks eating away at half the documents. "It's almost as if someone destroyed them. Why?" 

Her eyes narrowed. No, someone _tried_ destroying them only to be stopped halfway by another who collected and sealed them away here. Looks like they were too late though. Asira attempted to shuffle through them, but the ink smudged and burnt paper crumbled at her fingertips. Even if she were to find her answers here there was hardly anything left to make sense of it all.

Attempting to begin her decent back down the staircase, a paper got loose and drifted down to the library floor. She tsked, leaping down after it. However, when picking it back up the title on the page caused her eyes to widen. The Evil Eye. _One of the first Fatui Delusions ever to be made by Pedrolino and that devil Barnabas, but how did the Knights of Mondstadt hear about it?_ Asira read on, a hand flying to her mouth as she flipped the page.

"The Evil Eye's previous owner... was Diluc's father?" An all-too-detailed sketch of a glove, garnered with a glaring red stone, lay on the page, and Asira felt her heartbeat quicken as she moved to finally flip the page.

"What do you have there, sweetheart?"

_Shit._

Asira rammed the pages into her coat and picked up the first book she saw on the floor before she jumped up, clearing her throat as she turned to face her _visitor_. "Capitan Kaeya," a glare, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this special surprise greeting?" The turquoise-haired male gave no response, however she caught his gaze flickering between her coat pocket to the book in her hands and back again. 

"Kaeya?" He looked up.

"Haha, my apologize dear Sira, I was just taking a stroll and happened to spot my favorite Knight." Cue the eyeroll.

Asira patted down her coat- pretending to brush the dust off while actually hiding the papers further into a pocket- her pulse still racing as she felt Kaeya's piercing glare linger on her every movement despite the soft smirk painting his lips. "Well, if that is all I really should get going. Sucrose requested I get a book on-" she stared at the book in her hand, "Dendro slimes." She deadpanned. Really? Out of everything she could have grabbed it was on damned Dendro slimes? Kaeya laughed.

"Sounds fascinating, however you sure there isn't anything else you came here to find?" Kaeya pressed, his wolfish grin only widening at her discomfort. Damn him and his accusingly sly voice.

"No. Nothing at all, however I will say all your pressing makes you seem all the more suspicious. Why are you here anyway?"

"Ah, I presume we both have our little secrets~"

Asira narrowed her eyes at that, stepping forward so she was mere inches from the male's face. "Oh spare me, you're one to talk Sir Hides-more-secrets-than-his-eyepatch-does." Another laugh.

"Awfully interested in what I look like bare are we?" Asira felt an unwilling blush erupt across her cheeks at his statement. She poked at his uncovered chest, attempting to subdue the... unholy images that flashed through her mind. _This smug Capitan will be the end of me._

"W-Why do you insist on saying it like that, damned pervert." She scoffed lowering her voice, "I bet you don't even take your eyepatch off when you're having sex."

"Hmm, are we eager to find out?"

Asira choked on her words, bursting out coughing much to Kaeya's amusement. She immediately chased after him, attempting to hit the much taller male with the book in her arms, the two of them running about the library as little screams and laughter echoing about the building. Finally the turquoise-hair male crashed into a dead end, Asira raising the book above her head as her eyes locked on target.

"Mercy! Mercy oh great Electro Archon!" Kaeya feigned panic, hands on his heart as he dramatically kneeled before the girl. Asira scoffed, flipping her hair back.

"Very well, I'll forgive thy sins this once." She turned her chin up with a huff, silence filling the library. But as soon as her eyes met the glare of Kaeya's the two burst out laughing, Asira forgetting about the book in hand completely. That is, until Kaeya snatched it from her grasp and shoved her against the nearest bookshelf.

"Aw, I'm disappointed, that was a little too easy," Kaeya lowered his head, lips grazing her ear, "Capitan."

Asira swung her leg up, only to be caught mid-kick. Within a second she jabbed her elbow forward, lunging towards his jaw only for his gloved palm deflected it, trajectory throwing her off as her arm now pinned painfully backward against the shelf. "My apologies that I don't resort to underhand measures unlike some people." She spat.

"Hmm?" Kaeya pushed harder against her arm, a hiss leaving her lips at the pain erupting through her shoulder. "I thought I taught you that your life comes before your honor." His hand at her knee tightened. "A fair fight means nothing if you end up dead."

"As a Knight I have a duty to carry out my missions with honor."

"As someone important to me you have a duty to survive."

Neither backed down, Asira refusing to let another sound escape her despite the insistent pain that flickered and flared throughout her shoulder. Kaeya made a small tsk, grip relinquishing her arm before tilting her chin up to meet his gaze. His thumb grazed over her bottom lip.

There it was again.

Rippling through his eye was something so much darker and sinful then anything she would dare say aloud, something that turned even the crystal blue of Kaeya's icy gaze one a diabolical navy. A navy that spoke of no god and saw things no angel would bless.

He found himself leaning forward, hand sliding from her chin up to cup her jaw, however the touch of her soft lips against his finger burned into his memory. His voice was quiet, barely a whisper against her skin, however the hidden tone sent a shiver down Asira's spine. "This again? I swear to Barbatos we have been here before."

"I agree," Asira flicked her tongue across her dry lips, the man's gaze immediately snapping back at her action. "We can't keep ending up here only for nothing to happen." She watched him swallow hard before closing in, lips brushing against her cheek, his uneven breathing matching hers, breath warm yet foreign as it caressed her skin.

His smirk was audible in his words, lips brushing against her ear as he finally responded. "So then make something happen."

Asira turned to face him, however before she could voice the words against the tip of her tongue her lips were claimed by Kaeya's. For a Cryo user he set her skin on fire, heat erupting wherever his touch wandered, from her jaw down her neck into her hair and pressed against her thigh. He didn't waste a moment. Not a breath.

Soft against her own, the aroma of him, of mist flowers and of marble varnish, floods her senses when his tongue glides across her lower lip. Asking. Pleading. It's almost sweet, and whether it's from his own taste or from the sheer fever of it all she couldn't quite tell. Perhaps both. Finally parting her lips Asira feels drunk of his scent, a dangerous addiction threatening to take hold lest she loses herself in his feeling.

Oh, but how easy it is to become lost in an ocean. How painfully easy it is to hear the sirens call and lunge headfirst into the storming waves, their cold embrace flooding your lungs until all you can taste is their salty essence. Until all you can taste is him.

Breaking for the mere mortal necessity to breathe, Kaeya continues his attention downwards, lips moving against her jaw, advancing painfully slowly down her neck, insistent on leaving harsh marks of his claim, painting her fair skin red and purple in an indulgent painting for none other than himself. A whine escapes Asira's lips, unbeknownst to her blissful mind, sounds only encouraged the man further.

However, as his fingers begin to make quick work of her coat and unbuttoned uniform Asira snaps back in control of her mind. Kaeya's trapping grip on her had loosened. Asira rose her hands, cupping his face before forcefully shoving him against the bookshelf. An amused hiss left his lips but she paid no heed, not even as documents and books tumbled around them. Neither was sane enough to notice. Not nearly enough to care.

Asira guided her hands into his hair, entangling them as she fell against his chest. "I don't recall putting you in charge, Capitan." Kaeya's smirk only widened.

"Well then," Kaeya never finishes his thought, all too eagerly indulging back in a kiss, muffling any remaining thoughts either had. His kiss was bruising, harsh, and all too persuasive as it coaxed her own open once more. A groan flees his lips and Asira willingly accepts, the burn from the latter's hold against her hips enough to ignite heat thundering throughout her body.

It was only when Kaeya's hands traced their way back up her disheveled uniform did Asira recall the charred papers hidden within, and with that memories of Kaeya's conversation with Diluc at the tavern last night. Lust retreating from her eyes, Asira stopped Kaeya's hands midway down her shirt, easing them over her neck as she forced their lips apart. His brows furrowed at the sudden loss of contact, but she appeases him with a caste kiss below his ear. She felt his jaw clench. Following through, Asira began marking his flesh in return, his taste still new against her tongue, but her mind elsewhere as she devises a plan to ease the topic back into the present.

A kiss between his collarbones. Then Asira breaks away, eyes locking on Kaeya's own as she toys with the little gold chain linking his revealing shirt together. "Do you... know what Delusions are?" The Cryo user immediately stiffens and Asira wanted to slap herself.

_What part of that was remotely subtle?!?_

Desire and the intoxicating memory of his touch and taste must have clouded her mind more than she'd like to admit. However any initial surprise Kaeya may have shown was long since gone, his usual impish smile plastered back on as he guided a finger under her chin.

"Quite the curious one aren't we? Lucky for you I have a vague idea, any yet something tells me you already know just as much." She gulps, Kaeya leaning forward until his lips brush her own, penetrating stare not leaving hers for a moment. It left her feeling overwhelmingly bare. Vulnerable. "Why? Catch something of particular interest?"

Asira allows his unrelenting question to settle against her tongue, however unyielding in the face of the beast before her. "Unfortunately, yes, my Knights and I uncovered some... records of value that I need to sort out." She stuttered as Kaeya began his assault against her neck again, cursing to herself as she left her grip against his shoulders tighten once more.

"Hmm," another rough bite, "as much as it kills the mood the sole individual who would have a possibility of knowing would be the brooding vigilante." Asira straightened at that, a groan of annoyance leaving Kaeya's lips as she steps back. "If I may give a suggestion before you run off, let us _not_ mention my brother the next time we do this?" The turquoise-haired male tilts his head, eye half-lidded as he scans his own masterpiece before him. "I prefer to finish what I've started."

Asira only scowled at his implications, fighting desperately to keep the laughing Capitan from noticing the heavy blush dusting her cheeks. "Fine then," She moves to button up her shirt and fix her uniform as much as possible. "Do you know where Diluc may be at this time?"

Another uninterested sigh from Kaeya. "Last I've heard Pyro maniac was headed towards StormTerror's Lair." Asira nods at this, wincing slightly as she caught sight of the many marks staining her pale skin in a reflective gold mirror. She catches the slight upturn of Kaeya's mouth. Bastard.

"Very well, then I'll be on my way."

"So cruel, not even a kiss goodbye?"

Asira turns to glare, only to stumble backwards as the Cryo user steals her lips against his one last time. For now at least. Without another word Kaeya turns to leave, a simple hand waving goodbye before he disappears around a bookshelf. She felt a small pang of guilt for the librarians having to clean their mess up.

Wasting no more time dwelling on it, the Electro user exited the library already set as she began her trip for StormTerror's Lair.

Unbeknownst to her, Kaeya lay in wait until the coast was clear. Only then did he reach back into his pocket, a neatly folded piece of paper charred against his semi-gloved hands. Once opened his eyes widened, humming in surprise as he read on. "The Evil Eye, huh? You intrigue me more and more each passing day Sira."

And with that Kaeya takes his leave, placing the burnt note back in his pocket and continuing along as if nothing had happened.

"Now then, things are finally getting interesting."

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

moving forward I do have an intriguing development for you all:

there will be mature scenes however do not fear warnings shall be placed where they are due. 

the plot is finally beginning, I can't wait~


	7. Act 6

The brilliance of the afternoon sun burned compared to the dim halls of the library, Asira having to shield her eyes as she exited. Saluting to the few Knights out on patrol, she made her way out of the city gates, an involuntary shiver plaguing her body as she recalled the eternally stormy ruin graveyard of Stormterror.

She doubts it changed much from when she stumbled upon it all those years ago, undoubtedly still cursed by the never ending tempest winds, overrun with Hilichurl camps and Abyss Mages alike. It was truly a horror frozen in time. A testimony to the wrath of the fallen Archons. 

A warning.

Replacing her initial feelings of achievement was a a heavy sense of impending unease and uncertainty. So she had discovered the documents and linked Crepus Ragnvindr with the Evil Eye, but did this not simply unearth more questions than it answered? How did the Knights obtain accursed Delusions? How did the Fatui locate her and why now? And worst of all how are Kaeya and Diluc caught at the crux of this web? 

Asira could no longer run, hands tugging at her hair as these questions swarmed and clawed at her mind like untamable beast, worry and fear bleeding her dry.

Perhaps she has truly reached her end. Perhaps finally turning herself and all of her findings in to Acting Grand Master Jean was the only feasible choice remaining. Perhaps the time of her judgement has finally arrived.

_Stop._

_Stop it all._

_As Capitan of Reconnaissance I have dealt with far greater foes, and as Asira Gienah I have conquered and evaded far more formidable threats. I will not be outdone by a bastard Fatui who continues to haunt me from the shadows._

Asira sucked in a deep breath, feeling the ingrained mark through the uniform, before setting back on the long path before her. Considering it took a day to reach the Dawn Winery, a fair halfway point from the city to the Lair, Asira would aim to arrive before nightfall.

The cries of darkness-driven swarms of Hilichurls broke her moment of peace, but the Electro wielder brushed the worry aside, unsheathing both her swords. This simply means she'll have to run all the faster.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

Per her prediction, the sun's golden rays had already fallen prey to the mountainous horizon by the time Asira had reached the outskirts of Stormterror's Lair, last of the light only casting more indistinct shadows, throwing the ruins into shifting darkness. 

But Diluc was nowhere to be seen.

She ran across the towering stone bridge, the birds-eye view allowing her to survey the land. To her left lay nothing save from crumbling remnants of temples and scattered lone Hilichurls- she counted nine total. Nothing of note. To her right several camps were visible, however again she failed to find a possible trace of the red-haired male. Wait. Asira narrowed her eyes, scanning the deserted Hilichurl camp once more. There, on the furtherest left hut, smoke arose from a fire burning across the wooden frame.

Asira smirked, backing up as she prepared to jump. She had found her guide. Sprinting towards the edge of the bridge, she lunged into the air, wind howling and shoving against her plummeting body. And with a thrust of her arms she flew. Black glider wings sparked from her back, carrying her down, battling the tempest in the sky as she descended roughly onto the ground below. Landing with a roll, Asira tumbled forward, swords drawn with a clap of thunder.

However the camp was quiet and deserted, not even a scouring mage in sight.

A disappointed tsk left her lips as Asira continued forward, however it was alleviated with a sense of pride as she caught sight of more burn marks and scorched grass. Diluc was definitely here.

She knew better than to sheath her blades, and continued down the ruin paths, narrowly avoiding the range of the scavenging creatures, from slimes to treasure hoarders. Usually the Capitan would take it upon herself to halt their advancements, but with daylight quickly running out and the Pyro user still missing she would rather not expend any more energy than necessary.

Running along the Lair's path, Asira finally caught sight of something rising in the distance. "Smoke." Her coat flailed as her ran against the wind, darkening sky only further accentuating the brilliance of flames erupting in the distance.

And then she saw him.

His form, disturbingly calm despite the tension that clawed at the air, walked into the midst of a camp, black sword aglow with the heart of a Phoenix as a horde of Hilichurls spotted their target. The first wave charged, beating their clubs against wooden shields, cries of war echoing for Asira to hear from where she stood, hesitant as she watched the scene unfold below her. She spotted thirty. There were at least thirty monsters before Diluc, ranging from Metachurls to mages, but Asira held back, breath caught in her throat as the sky burst into red.

Diluc flicked his wrists, claymore twisting in the air as the gap between them quickly closed, a flash of metal the last thing Asira saw. And then he disappeared. With a lunge only wisps of smoke were left in his shadow, a single swing throwing the swarm of Hilichurls into the air.

Momentum never halting, a burst of fire erupted from his blade, a spiral of flame engulfing his form as another row of monsters flung to the ground. Another slash. Another stab. Diluc threw himself into the air, thrusting his claymore into the center of the mob as an eruption followed, earth cracking as the night sky was swallowed whole by blazing red embers.

Asira found herself mesmerized in the way the man composed himself. The way every swing, every step, every _motion_ , was deliberate and calculated made him appear as though he were merely dancing, alone in a waltz with his sword. Dancing on a stage drenched red in blood and gold from flame, a ballet to the rhythm of the fight without missing a beat. He alone was the composer, the musician, and the prince.

For Asira found no other performance quite as intoxicating to watch as that mesmerizing waltz of the Darknight Hero.

A Metachurl charged at him, shield sending boulders flying and dust in its wake, however Diluc spared but a glance at its racing form. With a kick he jumps off of the stone shield, catching on fire as his sword slashes straight through its center. Yes, he indeed was the master of a deadly symphony that crescendoed as he danced with death herself with the battlefield as their ballroom.

Flipping back onto his feet, the Pyro is met with a rain of ice shards, finally meeting the gaze of two Abyss Mages. What luck, both Cyro. However before the man can blink a wave of ice is sent his way, shards following in a icy charge before the glacier is blasted backwards with a slash. Behind him another mage appears.

He was surrounded.

Their laughter fills the Lair and another surge of ice tumbles towards Diluc, crashing together as a mountain of Cryo erupts where he once stood. Asira tenses, about to charge in when a brilliance of flames erupt from the core. The icy blue is overtaken with a bird of fire, feathers making the night burn and blacken as Diluc breaks free, twisting his body in an attack that sends all three mages crashing to the barren floor.

Just like that the night stills, the symphony's last notes a mere memory once more.

Spare a few remaining archers, the camp had been cleared of monsters and Asira finally snapped herself out from her trance. The dying cries of Hilichurls still fill the air, and she knew Diluc would not hear her even if she tried to get his attention.

However, as she begins her decent into the camp below something in the midst of nearby ruins catches her eye. A circular glow. Asira's body reacts before her mind realizes it, blood freezing as she draws both her swords.

_A ruin guard. He must have awoken a ruin guard!_

Asira leaps from her spot, watching in horror as the robot staggers to its feet, Diluc completely unawares as it begins to charge up.

_I won't make it in time!_

She sucks in a deep breath, not daring to shut her eyes even as the electricity begins to engulf her body, sparking across her skin and erupting into the tempest above her. Now was no time to think about the consequences. And so she fell.

Tumbling down from the sky, she allows her Electro power to consume her flesh, until finally she locked aim onto the robot below her. The Ruin Guard froze as missiles begin to erupt from its machinery. Right as its rockets burst from its body Asira cried out, lightning fleeing her body as the body of a million swords formed an army hovering above her. Then they fell. Missiles began detonating mid-air, swords plummeting as she did, sparks blinding as they rained down, destroying the robot before shattering the ground in their wake.

By the time Diluc noticed, the sky was overrun with purple lightning. For Asira had eclipsed the very moon, arching figure seeming to levitate like an angel of death as her swords descend to the cursed earth below. And all he could do was stare.

Yet, no sooner than Asira landed, the Ruin Guard broke free from its stun. Movements slowed yet its anger palpable, each step it took shook the Lair, closer and closer until its shadow cast over Asira. It drew a mechanic arm back for a lethal punch. But the recoil was too much. Asira could only brace herself, muscles screaming and her blood roared against her ears, screwing her eyes shut as the robot snapped forward.

"Dodge!"

A eruption of flames blinded the girl, her knees giving way as the flames before her licked at her skin. Diluc had slashed both arms off the robot, claymore swinging down as the Ruin Guard fell, body crumbling clean in two.

Without sparing a glance at its burning form, he lifted Asira up, the two of them running away as the dying cries of monsters bled into the tempest's howls.

The two continued on until they stumbled upon a mostly-intact temple, domed ceiling offering some coverage from those that prowled the ruins. Diluc parted the vines in the doorway, leading her in as they were engulfed in darkness.

Before Asira could even catch her breath Diluc had begun a small fire in the center of the marble floor, leaning over as his chest rose and fell violently. He turned, opening and closing his mouth hesitantly before words finally formed.

"Thank you" a pant, "for your assistance back there." The girl merely shook her head in response, flinching as her scars burned from the movement.

"A-Ah hardly, if it wasn't for you I would be Ruin Guard fodder by now," she threw him a grin, taking a seat near the steps of the temple ruins. A small moment of silence allowed her to hum in reminiscence. "I suppose this is the second time you've rescued me from a similar fate."

Diluc let himself rest beside her, burning eyes thrown up to gaze at the sky. "Second? I swore this occurrence has happened at least twenty times prior," the man clicked his tongue and pointed his claymore towards her, "I believe you are now severely in my debt, dear inefficient Knight."

Asira nudged his blade away with her own sword, a smile threatening to break loose. "Diluc? Joking? Oh sweet Barbados perhaps I was hit harder than I thought, is this truly the end for me?" She dramatically flipped a hand against her forehead, hearing what sounds like the ghost of a chuckle. But by the time she glanced back, Diluc had come forward enough so he could rest his hand against her shoulder. Asira felt her muscles relax under his touch and placed her palm atop his, heat radiating off the Pyro enough to ripple through in waves in spite of his glove.

"Do you... Do you remember where you first found me?"

He gulps dryly, and Asira sees his jaw tense."Unfortunately the exact location evades me. However, I know it's somewhere in these cursed Ruins." Ah, yes, after all it is quite the uncommon occurrence to find a women on the brink of death in the midst of nowhere.

Asira's scars burn against her uniform, screaming out their haunting reminders as their inflictor's ghosts caressed her. She had come an impossible way from her arrival to her current position of Reconnaissance Capitan. A glance at Diluc. But so has he.

Diluc is widely regarded as the most sought after bachelor in Mondstadt, and for good reason too, his wine monopoly, unfairly handsome looks, and alluring disposition made him unmissable. However that was all anyone saw— anyone who didn't truly know the man.

_"In truth Diluc and I are the same type of people. To put it in simple terms, we are antiheroes with attitude problems."_

Kaeya said this to her once, smirk never faltering as he avoided whatever question she had asked in the first place. Yet his remarks always stuck with her.

Truthfully, she knew the red-haired man no better than the facade he so obviously put on for the rest of Teyvat. And so she sat, oblivious to the memories that flashed by Diluc's eyes.

Yes, he remembers. He wouldn't know how to tell her but he remembers every moment and every thought that raced through his head that day. After all, it was on the day he had finally returned after his three year long departure from Mondstadt.

After all, it was on the day of the three year anniversary of his father's death.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

ah travelers how spoiled you are with weekly updates.

unfortunately I only have a few more Acts prewritten so they may become less frequent soon

however fear not I will try to adhere to our schedule as much as possible!


	8. Act 7

**WARNING** : contains major Genshin Impact manga spoilers, read at your own risk. 

Not everything depicted is cannon.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

One's eighteenth birthday is often an unforgettable one. Usually filled with town-wide parades, specialty sweets from Good Hunter, and an evening-till-dusk celebration at the nearest tavern. For in Mondstadt what is a festivity without the wine? However, eighteen year old Diluc was already a Knight of high status, holding the title of Cavalry Captain since his turning of fourteen, and was finally returning after a weeks long mission.

But at the end of his eighteenth birthday he held not the gifts of many in his hands, but rather the corpse of his father's bleeding body, and in his heart a fatal guilt as his tear-blurred eyes fixated on his own claymore, blade still buried in the dying man's chest.

"You've succeeded where I've failed... The Knights of Favonius are lucky to count someone as brilliant as you amongst their ranks."

Diluc clenched his fist, fighting the hot tears threatening to escape, fighting the rage that burned and festered against his heart. No, father. All I've proven to be is useless. Useless and oh so cowardly.

He ran away. He left the Knights that had shattered his trust, he sold off his mansion, he had abandoned his father's legacy.

Archons, Diluc felt like a coward.

His father had once said to him that the world would never turn its back on the faithful. But now, the Knights of Favonius trampled on his faith like it was nothing. He couldn't help but wonder: What was his father's view on faith in his final moments? And why, why did it have to be him that died? Why couldn't it have been me instead.

Diluc resigned from the Knights that day and left everything behind, including his Vision. He swore to avenge his father's death, and to find the source of the occult power which had caused his father's demise. For that demonic red orb still glowed every time Diluc shut his eyes, the chains that wrapped around his bleeding neck searing their image into his soul. His mission carried him throughout the seven nations of Teyvat in search of the truth.

Yet all the clues pointed towards a single organization: The Fatui.

Diluc had gathering information after every base he raided and after every battle he fought against them. He found that they made counterfeit Visions in secret, calling them "Delusions." A device that held the power amplify the power of its bearer to its extreme, but also carried a heavy price. A price that if unpaid would demand one's life in exchange. That was what had caused his father's death.

Was it possible that his father could have obtained such a vile item in order to do good? Or did he exchange it for the power? For evil and— No. The Knights have already forsaken his father's name, and he'd be damned if he let any doubt tarnish it now too. His father was beyond a man Diluc ever thought he himself could become, a man filled with unwavering loyalty, bravery, and love. 

And look where that got him.

Like an eagle scouring the wilderness, he set off on his hunt for the truth. Determination burned like fire in his heart; unfathomable enigmas and unending battles could not sway him from his course. He pressed on relentlessly, scarred but undeterred, like a fiery tornado burning through the dense fog of mystery.

Only, he did not travel unwatched. The Fatui rulers, The Eleven, monitored Diluc's progress from the shadows. The prowess with which he laid waste to numerous Fatui strongholds caught their attention, and forced them to take action. Else the Pyro user might come to close to their knowledge. And in this world like any other, knowledge is power.

Diluc narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Eleven thanks to a third-party observer from the north, an individual who was part of a vast underground intelligence network. The observer, he learned, was an alchemist whose skills where unmatched in all of Teyvat, a Sumero scholar known and yet a mystery to the rest of the network. The Alchemist declared to have been following Diluc for some time and approved of his methods. They valued his will, and even more so his mastery of his vision. So they offered him a position into their ranks.

After his close encounter with death, Diluc was finally able to look at his past and the anger he had harbored for so long. He despised the Knights, and continued to do so, and yet he couldn't bring to hate what they stood for.

Yes, he longed to see his hometown again, but even more he longed to find his reason for being. He longed to once again see the flashes of hope and determination as he guided his troop to victory. He longed to once again walk past the cobblestone streets, heart soaring as he gazed upon the statue of the Anemo Archon, knowledge of his deeds enough to carry him into the next day. He longed to once more live the life of a hero. And so Diluc decided to join the underground intelligence network, finding himself forever busy yet never satisfied.

His solitary sojourn lasted for three years.

But for all his years not one request nor commission came close to filling the gaping hole in his chest. No matter the blood he shed it paled in comparison to the river pooling from his heart, overrunning his mind until the mere thought of Mondstadt's familiar paths dug an inescapable dagger deeper into the wound. So he resolved to come back, path forcing him to descend down from Stormterror's Lair, to his very own Dawn Winery, and finally back into the city walls that pained him to call home.

His passage through the Lair was one riddled with bloodshed, the man heaving as another mob of Hilichurls swarmed him.

He unsheathed his claymore, "Time for retribution!" A burst of flames erupted from his blade, man slashing upwards before charging forward, sweat and ash and blood covering his body as the abundance of monsters kept coming. His breath came in pants. Swift, painful grunts gracing his bleeding lips with every attack and dodge his body was forced to make.

By the time night had fallen Diluc felt as if every muscle had been ripped from their place, arms begging for rest but receiving nothing less than cruel persistence as his inferno continued to light up the night sky. When the camps finally thinned out an eerie silence fell over the Lair. Only the tempest winds screamed against his ears, dying cries all but gone as he narrowed his eyes.

There was something in the distance. Another horde, however this one... there was far too many, counting well over fifteen monsters ranging from Mages to Metachurls.

Diluc's grip on his claymore tightened, ruby eyes narrowing as his sword enveloped in fire once more, path erupting in flames, gaze darkened as the horde caught sight of the man approaching. He appeared nothing more than a silhouette. Tiny against the tower of Dvalin and yet his presence engulfed the entirety of the Lair, his cape of fire trailing into the winds as a Phoenix sprang from smoke. He looked like a harbinger of death himself.

With a mere twist of his claymore the Phoenix sprung forth, wings disintegrating anything unfortunate enough to lay in its past, smoke only providing a suit of unholy armor as the man continued to charge forward, the scent of ash and blood and death staining him entirely. It wasn't until the first peaks of dawn that he finally reached the center of the horde, sword falling to the burnt earth.

In the center lay a girl.

Diluc ran forward, immediately crashing to his knees yet he dared not touch the remains of the human below him. At least he thought they were a girl, but their tattered body left little but bones and scars to decipher. Archons, were they even alive? He swiftly ungloved his hand, placing it above her mouth as he held his breath. Yes. Yes, they were breathing, but barely. Diluc was no healer, and he couldn't even bring himself to touch her laying form.

The makeshift armor and rags were all but tattered, resting underneath a sickly layer of grime and crusting blood, girl unconscious yet clutching two swords in a vice grip. Diluc began to scan her body but broke off, snapping his head up as he screwed his eyes shut. He felt sick. So, so, sick. Forcing himself to look again he felt bile rise in his throat and hot tears burned at the back of his eyes.

She was completely covered in scars. It was impossible to notice from afar beneath the soot and filth that layered her thin body, but he saw the agitated wounds bubble and bleed, sickening colors of her life-force seeping out into the scorched ground. Could he even get her back to Mondstadt in time?

Not daring to delay a second longer, Diluc began lifting the girl up, slowly attempting to hook an arm below her legs.

However, right as he began lifting the limp body from the earth she sprang up on reflex, head smashing into his jaw as limbs flew about in a frenzy. Her swords slashed at both his arms and Diluc let out a scream, jumping backwards as he cursed aloud. The girl immediately collapsed, however he could hear feral growls escaping her heaving chest, incapacitated yet refusing to let go of the swords in her grasp, knuckles turning white.

"Please, I am trying to help you-" Diluc swallowed dryly, her wounds opened once more and his stomach twisted violently as the gash on her chest pooled an all-too-vibrant layer of red onto her body. "Let me take you back to a medic, back in my hometown. Please-" he could barely finish as she lunged for him, vision temporarily blinded by her indigo mess of hair, throwing her blades back as she attempted to stab his heart. The Pyro grunted as they topped over, barely restraining her as gurgled hisses and curses escaped from the both of them. Diluc was about to shove her off when a burst of Electro energy submerged them, screams ripping from his throat as blades of pure lightning struck and stabbed at his flesh.

The oder of burning skin choked him, and he desperately thrashed out, flinging the girl off. "That's im-" a grimace, "Impossible. _There's no Vision on her!_ " 

No where on the rags that stuck to her scarred body was anything remotely resembling the glowing elemental orb. And yet he saw it with his own eyes. On the brink of death the girl was strong enough to summon countless swords of pure raging energy. Diluc raised his claymore, muscles tensing with pure dread. 

There, directly above her heart, was a symbol he had prayed to never bear witness to again. Not even in his nightmares. Those spiraling black marks, the symbol and dragging tail, stained red and copper, yet still pulsing with hell's fire itself with a trail as black as the Abyss. If this is at all connected to what **He** was saying... then this girl needed to be subdued immediately.

A tackle to the side knocked Diluc back to the fight before him and the two tussled along the dirt and ashes again. Her blade was aimed right for his heart. Diluc swore to himself not to hurt her, he swore, and yet even with all his physical strength he couldn't manage to fight her off. His jaw clenched and he resorted to swinging his knee up, scream fleeing his lips as her blades missed, cutting straight through his shoulder instead.

"I will end them." Diluc rose, tears brimming his eyes as he once more spotted the feral girl, blood dripping down her torso and from countless old wounds, pooling below as she trembled, fighting to stay upright. "I will find whoever put you through this suffering and I will kill them myself. So I apologize for what I am about to do."

With a whoosh of his coat he snapped forward, knocking her unconscious with the back of his claymore. Picking her up once more he took off his coat, layering it around her as it soaked through with blood and smeared with grime. However Diluc couldn't bring himself to care. Diluc failed to notice beneath her rags, but the inky black ruins that once crawled across her skin had disappeared. 

The girl whimpered in pain and brought herself closer against him, each tremble and tremor that shook her body. He wasn't a healer and he sure as hell wasn't a hero, so even as he ran to the city gates Diluc couldn't quite realize why he felt so desperate to save the corpse in his arms.

No. That would be a lie. He knew exactly why.

An image flashed before him, a hauntingly familiar image of a man with curly red hair, coupled with a beard and the softest smile that Diluc had ever laid eyes on. A smile filled with love. And then he disappeared. In his place was that of a rain-stained window, grand courtyard laid out before him as rows and rows of vines were pelted against the storm. Diluc's heart lurched as he knew exactly where he was. Home.

That same stormy night flashed by his vision, every other step replaced with that of his childhood. He saw before him the figure of his father, approaching the doorstep with another trailing closely behind him, huddled under the umbrella but alas soaked through and through. The child trembled as he hesitantly entered the house, refusing to meet Diluc's eyes as his soaked navy blue hair clung to his chubby face. The boy stared, his father kneeling before the two of them as he placed an arm around them both. Diluc fixed his gaze on the boy, finally looking up to meet his ruby gaze with one of piercing blue.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

He was crying.

"Diluc," his father pat his head, hugging the boy closer as he did the same with the latter child. "This is Kaeya. He'll be staying with us from now on, is that alright?" Diluc could only bring himself to nod. "I know you don't have anyone else your age to play with, and from what Kaeya's told me he also loves swordsmanship. You'll be nice won't you?" Another nod.

"Could you..." his father paused, and he grabbed Kaeya's tiny hand, placing it against his own before bringing Diluc's hand in as well. He felt warm. They both did. "Could you, perhaps one day, accept him as your brother too?"

The two stared, Diluc no longer glancing at the tears of a dripping-wet child but rather the cold smirk of the lethal Cryo Knight, eyes containing the all wrath and all the sorrow of a winter storm. Diluc stared at him, sword drawn against his own, a tornado of fire and ice engulfing their surroundings as rain hid the tears streaming down their faces.

He stared right on ahead, at the stranger his father took in, at the stranger he grew up with, and at the stranger he once called his brother.

"Sure."

Maybe in rescuing this girl, Diluc could atone for his sins. And maybe, just maybe, in rescuing this girl, his father could finally forgive him.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

did you cry yet? no?

I'll have to try harder next time then~

see you next week travelers


	9. Act 8

They let the silence consume them for a moment, tempest storm roaring outside the shelter of their ruin temple. However it wasn't the wind that chilled the Pyro user to the core, even as his memories submerged once again. 

He let himself steal a glance at the girl standing beside him.

Truth be told these memories were Diluc's alone. Asira did not remember anything clear enough to be labeled a memory from the day she was rescued, her senses in constant distortion and flooded with pain for several months before the world became clear again.

But she remembered feeling this warmth, warmth and a subtle drumming of a heartbeat overtaking her own, lulling it into stability once more. Hands outstretched she let the memories of the night engulf her, and with a shaky breath she allowed them to come back, lifting her out from the solitude of her own mind. She remembers a voice. Not a word of what it said, and yet it soothed the screams of her tormented heart.

For all she could recall was comforting smell of burning wood, of ash, and of brilliant flames. 

And all she saw was red.

"You..." Asira shifted, letting her gaze soak in the man's form, pale complexion highlighted gently by the moon's glow and yet outshone by the fire in his eyes. He was breathtaking. "You were my only thought for the first several months I spent in those labs."

Diluc's eyes widened at that and Asira quickly stiffened, realizing her choice of words. "Ah, I mean, um, not like that! Rather, my initial months of healing were mostly spent slipping in and out of consciousness... But the one thing I remember without a sliver of uncertainty was a Phoenix of crimson." Neither had to speak to understand any more.

Asira knew. When she finally regained control of her body, strapped to the hospital bed and surrounded by various potions, the being chained within her laughed and broke free.

That was the day she met Albedo.

That was the day she nearly killed him.

It took an overwhelming amount of Knights to restrain her once more, and yet she only froze in her rampage when the familiar scent of smoke and fire engulfed the underground lair. At first she wondered why every muscle would relax or why her heart would calm only to beat erratically once more in the presence of the aloof young man, but the answer always lingered against the back of her mind.

Because he was the first person to ever save her.

Snezhnaya does not believe in tears. No, the children destined for greatness are thrust upon the path to divinity, ensuring the death of their childhood as blissful ignorance is ripped alongside their innocence. After all, to become a God you must murder the mortal within. And murder they did, for as soon as Asira was given worth her fathered ensured she would become nothing but a brick in his own road to Celestia.

In the name of love her father tore her apart, assembling the war machine that would guarantee the Tsaritsa's wish. The throne that Asira was chained upon was built by the bones of the failed experiments, the flesh and bones of those children nothing more than the red carpet beneath her feet, bare and raw as she danced her way into hell lead on a leash by the devil himself. All in the name of loyalty and love. For who would need a heart when it can be replaced with power? Perhaps that is why he named them Delusions... Even in knowing his selfish pursuit he pressed onwards, letting the world burn lest he could go down in flames with an Archon by his side. Foolish, foolish mortal.

Yet we never learn.

Asira's hands return to her chest, placed over her empty, hollow heart. My throat is weeping.

Not tears. Something thicker, darker. Something that drowns her skin in scarlet, streams down her chest and soaks her hair, her face, her clothes, her hands. My hands. They tremble and reach for her own neck, scratching and choking, desperate to stop the flow. Please, just make it stop.

_Please, just stop._

"Stop."

Diluc snaps up at that, her words a strained whisper and yet audible to the male. He shifts over, allowing his gloved hand to brush by her own as he coaxes her attention back.

"You..." his eyebrows furrow as Asira swore a dusting of bush colors his cheek as he struggles to find wording. "You mentioned you thought of me, care to share your thoughts now?"

A smile. "Since when were you so attuned to such things as emotion?" He cleared his throat in light embarrassment, shifting backwards slightly.

"Acting Grandmaster Jean also mentioned I had... progressed in that regards." Ah, so she was helping him. Of course. Asira drove her gaze back to the ground and forced herself to pull her palm from his. It felt colder now.

"Have you given her your proposal yet?"

The clumsy clang of his claymore echoed at his surprise, whipping around to face Asira. "Don't be r-ridiculous, I haven't even begun thinking about such trivial matters." He stuttered. Diluc never stutters. "Besides, I inquired for your thoughts did I not? I don't recall asking for Miss Jean."

Then he smiles.

Damn that smile. It's the kind that allows her to breath breathless, the kind that highlights the light in his eyes without erasing the scars, the kind that makes her think that maybe she's never seen another true smile before. Such a wonderfully flawless and forgiving exterior for a boy with a cold and poisoned heart. And perhaps that is the true reason every nerve in her body still screamed at her to run away. To leave. To flee. Because she knew even the smallest taste of him against her tongue would intoxicate her, dragging her to hell with the poison of the pomegranate staining her lips wine-dark red.

And just like a drunk compelled but speak nothing the truth, Asira is powerless as she drowns his smile.

"I had gone a long time without any basic affection or comfort. So, consciously or not, you showed me something I never realized I was starving for."

_Shit. Yet again, I've said too much._

"I... gave you comfort?"

"You gave-" Asira paused, weak laugh fleeing her lips before she shook her head. Archons, you really have no idea. "You were my comfort, yes Diluc." You still are.

However Asira knew this conversation was but a mirage drawn on long enough. Dangerous thoughts were filling every crevice and crack of her mind, easing her heart in a time she couldn't afford. The Fatui were unfurling their final plan, and if Asira was caught in their web she would have to fight tooth and nail just to spare her own skin. 

Now was not the time for weakness. But she let herself indulge in one more question, one more before she broke this beautiful illusion before her and flung them back to the hell of reality.

"No matter how many times I ask, you never quite respond. Why did you bother saving me?"

Diluc eyes her for a moment, swallowing dryly as he looks right past the girl. He looks back at that night, at the dying smile of his father and the emotionless smirk of his brother. He ran from his sins until they became engrained onto his back, last of his faith spilling into the ground as he waltzed in blood. And yet in the center sat a girl, curled and broken, soaked red and crying out. He blinks, eyes now locking with the silver ones of Asira, his own reflection shining back at him whilst the wind howled their names.

"I have forgotten."

Always the same lie.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

Asira awaited until they began heading back to Mondstadt to bring up the Evil Eye, yet throughout their trek her hands curled around the papers still stashed in her uniform pockets. Her hand burned against her neck as she remembered the feeling of Kaeya's lips against it, jolting upright as she shook the memories from her mind. Strategy. It was all merely a strategy to learn more about the Knight's knowledge. That was all.

But even as she caught up with Diluc, who had gone on ahead to clear stray slimes, she couldn't help but thank the Archons for the veil the night provided, concealing the deep purple and red marks littering her neck beneath her coat. Whether or not he actually noticed was a different story.

"Master Diluc," she heard a sigh in response to her formalities.

"Yes, Capitan?"

She almost backed down as his eyes met hers, glow with a ruby fire that nearly silenced the questions prying off her tongue. "My regiment and I were reanalyzing some of our findings from several fortnights ago... It was a mission regarding a certain object that Sir Kaeya said you knew of." Neither missed how Diluc stiffed at the mention of the Cyro Capitan, but he gestured for her to continue. "The Evil Eye. Have you heard of it?"

They were thrust into silence once more.

"I apologize, Kaeya mentioned you had a rough history with the Fatui but I merely—"

"What did he tell you?" It was hardly a question. The sheer demand in his tone was enough to strangle the words in Asira's throat. She opted for a direct route, knowing Diluc's distaste in idle talk, and yet the pure amount of rage concealed in his scowl sounded alarms throughout her body, glare not lifting from her face. "What did he tell you about that damned thing, Asira."

"Nothing!" Her breath hitched. That came out louder than expected. But when she dared to meet his eyes again the rage dispersed, shock then emotionless compliance filling those empty red voids. "He didn't wish to tell your story so he guided me here. I had prepared to ask you but it seems as though this Fatui object is of personal importance. My apologies."

Kaeya realized knew she knew too much with his constant prying, and she'd rather not have two deadly Vision wielders come after her should circumstances change for the worst. Feigning ignorance was the safest route. And for now that's how she'd play. Besides, Asira knew from the beginning her chances of learning the whole truth from Diluc would be slim at best, for not even the bond they've shared for the past three years abled her to learn much about the man's past.

Her grip tightened on the stashed papers. There had to be another way. Even if she was destined to confront them alone the least she could do was become a stepping stone for the Knight's victory. So long as her effort, her blood, sweat, and tears where utilized in the end- so long as she was finally useful- it would be enough. Maybe, in saving their lives, mine will finally be worth something too.

"One moment."

Asira turned, so lost in thought she failed to realize how far behind the Pyro wielder was. "Yes?"

"How did you know The Evil Eye was forged by the Fatui?"

_Shit._

"What ever do you mean," Asira cleared her throat, gripping her wrist behind her back. "I am the Capitan of Reconnaissance, don't you think such information would pass through me?" She prayed the he didn't notice how her hands trembled behind her.

"Regardless of rank, Fatui information is classified for good reason... especially incidents like that of The Evil Eye."

Diluc stepped closer before Asira could even voice her refute. No longer was she looking at her savior, instead, all that stood in his place was a harbinger of hatred and anger, accusing flames cracking in his eyes as he approached her. That revenge fueled fire was close enough to burn. "I mean no offense, but it's been a while since you were last a Captain, correct Master Diluc?"

Still he refused to back down. "Only the top three ranks are privy to such secretive information: The Grand Master, Acting Grand Master, and the Cavalry Captain."

"And so due to your hunch you think what, I stole information? That what, I am a spy for the Fatui? What do you want me to admit, that I am the traitor!"

Diluc froze. Asira too stumbled backwards, clasping a hand over her mouth as she realized she had been yelling, but the vile taste of her words against her tongue were far more revolting. She couldn't lie to him. There was not a shadow of doubt remaining, should he question her any further, she would end up confessing to it all. Damn it. Asira snaps up as the copper tang of blood seeps into her mouth, releasing the cutting pressure on her lip.

"...I apologize. I had no right to question you like that, with all the new advances in the Fatui's movements I assume I'm just tense is all." Liar. What a goddamn liar.

Should she press him further? There was no doubt he had suspicions but based on what? Simply knowing a fact or two was far from incriminating evidence, and Asira needed to know more about his connection to the Fatui. After all, she couldn't just forget all that she heard back in the tavern only a night ago. She swallowed.

"It happened three years prior to your arrival here in Mondstadt."

Asira snapped up, unable to hide her shock at his willingness. He has never once been this direct. "There were these... creatures, unnatural and powerful, that long since plagued Tevyat, one of which being a dragon titled Ursa the Drake. On this particular night an unprepared band of Knights crossed paths with the daemon, and in the frenzy were pushed almost to their bloody deaths."

There was a certain shadow that cast over Diluc's face as he continued, "A mere businessman was forced to take action, and he used a Delusion in his possession, The Evil Eye, to restrain The Drake. Only, its power backfired and the hero was killed shortly after, and the daemon escaped."

Asira felt guilt claw at her heart as her fingers brushed over the edges of the research papers still hidden in her coat pockets. "Do you recall this hero's name?"

The man was silent for a moment. "No."

"Oh..." she tried to conceal her dismay, "And then what became of Ursa the Drake, you said there were more creatures like him?"

"Yes, the daemon was slain shortly after, but other creatures like him still exist. Beings with power sources created by what an old confident of mine described as 'Archon Residue' or at least experiments-" Asira froze, Diluc's words fading to nothingness as her vision falls through. She was prepared for them to know. She was prepared for them to know about the Fatui's corruption, she was prepared for them to know about the Delusions, hell, she was even prepared for them to know about the replaced Harbinger. But the Archon Experiments? How... How did he find out?

Through the darkness and through the static a hand reached out to her, pulling Asira up from where she had collapsed on that sterile metal table.

_"I have fulfilled your wish my darling. Now it is time for you to keep your promise."_

My promise.

"Archon Residue experiments...ha..." Asira chuckled dryly, hand running through her hair as it tugged against her scalp, blood seeping beneath her nails as she dug and dug and dug. Diluc noted the paleness of her face.

"Asira? Are you unwell? Did a Hilichurl wound you back in the Lair?" He shuffled closer, beginning to scan her body until Asira pushes him back. She flinched at her own roughness. Their figures lingered in the dark, neither daring to move as their eyes darted from the ground to the other and back again. Asira is forced to speak first.

"I merely want to tell you—"

I want to tell you everything. I want to throw down my swords and run to your embrace, to finally collapse and not have to keep fighting. I want to once again be guarded by your arms and forget about the trail of blood chaining me to my sins and my past, to think of nothing but the comfort that is you. And yet I know it's impossible. For the moment I begin everything will spill from my lips onto yours.

Every secret every memory every stab every slaughter I will cry and scream to you as the guilty do before their god's altar. I would offer my blood my soul my very being and yet I know even my carved heart placed on the pedestal would be worth no more than the ashes of your shadow. For the moment you knew the truth, I know you would not hesitate to sever my head from the very shoulders it sits upon. Because you are the truest hero in my story.

And everyone knows the hero must always vanquish the villain in the end.

"—that I'm sorry."

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

Nothing like a little angst to finish the week~


	10. Act 9

Diluc had sent her off at Mondstadt's gates, neither speaking a word the remaining trip back. Asira departed without a glance back, subtle clinking of her swords at her side filling the silence as she continued back to her dwelling. She was so lost in her silence that she failed to notice how Diluc watched her disappear, gloved hands clasping around nothing but cold air as he was greeted with the moon's solitude.

Asira had made it to the depths of Mondstadt's inner alleys, light from streetlamps and the occasional windowsill glow all but gone as she ventured deeper. This late at night hardly anyone of sanity was up. However drunken laughter and crashing could be heard from the tavern as she whisked by, wind of conversation and rumor all but disappearing into the night as she continued on. But even as the Capitan got closer and closer to her home she couldn't quite shake her uneasiness. Something... Something was watching her.

At first it was but a hunch, but with each twist and turn she took she grew more certain: she was being followed.

And the presence was getting closer.

Asira turned sharply into an alleyway, concealing her hands underneath her coat as she unsheathed a blade, thunder crackling against the cool metal. The only sound was her own heartbeat, drumming against her ear. That, and the silence.

"Show yourself coward!"

Nothing. Her eyes widened, their presence had altogether disappeared yet remained persistently strong. Almost as if they were right next to her. Right on top.

"Don't tell me—" But before she could whip her head up something knocked into her side and smashed into her skull. A scream began to escape before a cloth was shoved against her mouth, vision blurring immediately. And then the world fell to black.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

The first thing Asira noticed as her mind cleared was the cloth binder across her mouth, turning her ragged breaths and curses into a mere collection of muffled sounds. The second thing was the familiarity of the room: she was seated on her dining chair, tied up in her very own dwelling. A biting tug at her hands forced her to glance down. A set of chains encased both her wrists.

_Wait. No..._

Asira shook her head in attempt to clear the spots dancing across her vision, hissing in response to the pain shooting through her skull. However her vision did clear, now allowing her to realize the chains weren't metal but rather made from pure water. Her clothes and floor were drenched too. That meant one spark would blast the entire room.

_They rendered my Electro powers useless!_

_But how? How did my captor now about my element? I don't have a Vision so the only way they would know is if they..._

Asira stiffened as the room spun. They couldn't be a Knight, could they? The sound of footsteps ripped Asira from her thoughts and a figure emerged from the darkness of her house, shadow practically looming over her own.

A laugh echoed throughout the room, a loud careless sound that shot chills down Asira's whole body as she froze at its horrid familiarity. "My my, I hardly recognize you anymore my darling голубушка, you've really grown up well~" That voice. That cheerful, confidant tone that echoed the song of the sea yet held the depths of the abyss. He hadn't changed at all.

"That was quite the act Asira, or rather, should I address you as Columbina?"

"Tartaglia."

The man finally steps before her, smile adorning his shadowed face, aglow with the secrets of the moon as Asira finds herself gone slack. Once unruly orange locks where now cut to frame his matured face, his own Fatui mask cast off to the side with careless ignorance. But the thing that changed the most- the thing that chilled her to the very bone- were his eyes. Once an envious blue, containing all the wonder and curiosity of the vast sea now only held its storms, a chaos of lustful violence crashing onto rocks and thrashing across ships, threatening to spill out and overflow. Gone was the innocent child who had longed for adventure and glory. Gone was the boy she once loved.

"Why... Why have you come?" The Fatui must have sent him, did he have a target? Asira's confusion turns to blind anger as she once again struggles against her bonds, chains rattling violently. "What do you want? I swear to the seven Archons, Ajax if you hurt any of the people here I will rip you apart limb by limb!"

He merely chuckled at her resistance, mirth and light amusement dancing along his features as he lifts her chin up to face him. His nails cut and mark her flesh. "As much as I'd love a rematch to gauge how far you've grown, I've unfortunately been placed on a strict schedule." Nimble fingers wander along her jaw but Asira jerks her head away, about to summon her sword when she's painfully reminded of the Hydro chains still binding her wrists. One spark from her blade and they'd both be sent straight to the grave.

Damn him.

"This must be some sort of dream. A twisted nightmare my own mind inflicted upon myself to remind me of my sins." But all that Asira received in response was another round of laughter.

"Oh? Am I to assume you dream of me then, that warms my heart." Tartaglia grabs her chin, yanking upwards so she stares directly into his eyes, bubbling with amusement. "But I can assure you that this is not a dream. As for the name Ajax, I long abandoned it. Her Majesty the Tsaritsa has granted me the name Childe." So that's the name he's been given?

Oddly fitting.

But a growl was the only response Asira let herself give. "Then what about your title as Tartaglia? Surely you haven't forgotten whose spot you _stole_ as the eleventh Harbinger?"

Before she could utter another word a Hydro blade pressed against her throat, slicing into skin as she swallowed dryly. Each breath drew blood. Asira forced a smirk to her face, unfaltering as thick liquid trickled down from the scrape, _Childe's_ eyes tracing its red path down her neck.

"Again, I'd love for a rematch but that isn't why I was summoned here," Childe's eyes meet hers. "Tonight I come as a messenger. A negotiator."

Asira scoffs. "How short staffed must the Fatui be to resort to such an unruly battle boy to serve as their _negotiator_?" For a moment she freezes, prepared for another blade to her face, but instead the room falls to silence. And in the next her vision is replaced with that of two abyssal blue eyes. Childe's face hovers mere inches from hers, the curl of his smirk ghosting across her own as his words fall as hoarse whispers. She can almost taste his amusement.

"Because we both know I'm the only one you'd listen to."

Asira couldn't find the power to even will her muscles to move, so even as Childe releases the chains holding her hostage she doesn't blink. Too many thoughts flood her mind. Too many memories, too many regrets, too many questions. They drown her, surrounding and submerging her until their echoing cries are all she can think of.

"Why..."

Three years ago she was found and rescued by Diluc whilst on death's door in StormTerror's Lair. However her suffering began long before that. Asira too had been cast out from her home, rather thrown, discarded, stripped from her title and honor as a Harbinger as she wandered aimlessly for many years. The number evade her. Snow capped mountains turned to sand, were she was captured and sold, memories a blur of misery and alcohol and sand. So much blistering blood-soaked sand. Whether from trauma, malnutrition, or something else entirely those years remained much of a blur against her memories but her body never forgot her pain. Her scars carried their ghosts. And they burned with twice the anger of the desert.

It was Childe's amused hum that snapped her back to the present. "Why you ask? You should know better than any of us that Pedrelino doesn't like sharing his creations. Even abandoned projects like you."

"Proud talk for a mere replacement," Another Hydro blade was quick to press against her throat. "I see your ego is just as fragile as it's always been."

Almost as if he realizes he's being messed with Childe steps back, flashing an unfittingly innocent grin whilst throwing his hands in the air. "Joking! But I've still yet to explain my message for you darling little dove." Asira cringes at the nickname. It sounded wrong in Mondstadt's native tongue. Plus it resurfaced all too many memories that seemed now painfully out of place.

"Get on with it. I know your men won't wait for you forever and I want you gone from my city before daybreak." Asira's voice drops into a growl, "Should I ever find you inside Mondstadt's walls again I'll end you myself." The ginger chuckles at her words, twisted expression of euphoria rippling across his form in waves.

"You're making it harder and harder to resist fighting you. But you're right, after all I'm a busy man~" As if a flip was switched Childe's laughter cut, shadows of her room dancing in silence as the Harbinger kneels before her. Asira sucks in a breath as he reaches forward, semi-gloved hands combing through her hair as he lets their indigo stands fall from his fingers.

"We want you to come back home."

Asira chokes. Her mouth dries and her lungs are deprived of any liberty of breath. Like a hanging man she claws at her neck, throwing her head down as silent screams rip from her throat. Not a sound escapes into the darkness.

"Come back home with me. Fight alongside me once more! The Tsaritsa has executed her plan to avenge the fallen and we are nearly complete. Her Majesty's goal requires but two more pieces, and with you by our side once more there will be nothing that we cannot—"

"Shut the fuck up."

Asira feels blood drip from her hands, nails cutting into her palms as her knuckles turn white. "Shut up." Her muscles tremble as she looks up, locking eyes onto his as she finally stands. "I wound rather claw my way through the Abyss once more than come crawling back like a damned dog to that ice tyrant!" Childe's expression only falters enough to let the glow of his eyes dim.

"Now now, wouldn't you rather first listen to what our offer means?"

"No. The Fatui no longer hold any meaning to me," Asira meets his gaze, "and neither do you."

Another hum. "Is that so? And if I told you it would involve your dear citizens of Mondstadt would that sway your mind?"

The people of Mondstadt? Why... why would they be involved in my decision? Asira clenched her jaw, hundreds if not thousands of worse case scenarios rushing through her mind until a mirthful chuckle draws her back out. There was only one plan that even came close to the scale and destruction that Childe was hinting towards. Only one that, if the Tsaritsa succeeded in, would bring down Celestia itself. And it would burn the world.

"Been a while since I've seen you look so worried! Hmm don't tell me you care about the people here?" Damn them, what did they do? That plan was deemed impossible the day she was thrown out! "Perhaps you have found a friend or two? A lover?"

Asira stiffens.

"Bingo? Aw no fair," Childe's chilling fingers interlace with hers, the other drawing up to catch her cheek. "I don't particularly like sharing."

His face was much too closer now. Close enough to let her fully realize just how much the boy she knew has grown. Any childish innocence had disappeared, sharp jaw and lean muscles were all that remained from the shedded skin of the chubby child. He appeared like a corrupt angel— absolutely unnervingly handsome but with a twisted quality that hinted towards all the sin festering underneath his mask. He held an unforgettable, if not horrifying, face that lent itself to sadists, nightmares, and indeed, Lucifer.

Asira barely finds her voice from the depth of her thoughts. "We were children then- our vows mean nothing now. You will tell me what the Tsaritsa's plan is. You will tell me so I can stop her myself."

Childe finally stepped back, the overwhelming scent of seasalt and bloodlust easing as he did. "Our comrades have perfected the duplication of the Sigils of Permission, as well as the Delusions. The plan to capture all seven Gnosis is nearly complete. All but two Gnosis are in our possession and Her Majesty estimates we have but a lunar cycle left until the day of final judgment arrives."

 _So Pedrelino and Dottore have perfected the trials..._ Sigils to unseal the fallen Archons and beasts, and the Delusions to tame them. This was the plan long since in the making, before her arrival in Mondatadt, before her expulsion from the Fatui, and even before her birth. But the only new information was the one that haunted her the most. "The day of final judgement?"

"The day Celestia will pay for all their injustice once and for all."

Asira wished she was shocked. She wished she was infuriated and defiant and threatening, but all she felt was numb. She had known this day was coming- it was all they prepared for in her first thirteen years- but to think they would see it to fruition within her lifetime...

They really were going to destroy Teyvat.

She grit her teeth. "So what makes you so confident I'll come back with you? The Fatui made it very clear that they no longer see use in me, and I'll be damned if they think they can say otherwise now."

Childe nods, almost convincingly so as though he was pondering her question. He wasn't. "You'll come back, because if you don't we will be forced to take the lives of everyone in Mondstadt instead. Call it compensation."

No. "Why?" Please, Archons no. "Why would my presence be worth the lives of an entire nation?" Asira couldn't control her voice as it rose to a shout, fists trembling as she remembered the ruin the Fatui had cast in their path the conquest, stench of blood and death staining their very souls.

"As much as I'm _dying_ to tell you, The Tsaritsa made it quite clear I'm not allowed to say much until after you've returned home." Another unsettling smile cracks across the ginger's face. "But let's just say that between taming the fallen Archon Decarabian and taming you, her majesty made her choice quite clear. After all, we know how powerful you really are." His hand reached out, hovering just above her heart, her sigil, before he withdrew his touch.

Childe's speech hung in the silence. No other sound persisted so, even the howling of the late winter winds a mere nuisance compared to the weight of his words.

"You mean that I—"

"I'm saying you get to choose, голубушка. Fight against us and the Tsaritsa will end you herself, or stand back and watch the rest of the world burn at your fingertips. The choice is yours."

So Asira either returned to her God like the caged little dove she was and spared the Knights at the price of the world, or retaliated, fighting against the Fatui, their Delusions, and the Tsaritsa. A fight that was impossible to win.

_Damn it._

_Damn it!_

_DAMN IT!_

Despite the failure of her resistance Asira tried to probe Childe once more, desperate for any information she could use. "Why me? Pedrelino cast me out years ago, why the sudden change in heart?"

"Simple. You're still his only success." A devilish smile persisted as he drank in the scowl set on her twisted features. "Now now don't look too surprised, all the others merely ripped apart like they used to, especially when imbedded with a Delusion as destructive as Baal's."

_Bastard! Don't speak her name._

He chuckled as Asira tensed at his words, deciding to push his luck as he continued while swiping his tongue across his bottom lip. "After all, Pedrelino granted pitiful visionless people the chance to finally be worth something, no? Imagine how embarrassing that must have been, a Harbinger's own daughter, visionless and useless at the age of thirteen! You can't really blame him can you? He only did what was best... he only did what you wanted him to."

Ah yes, useless. The one thing that defined her more than anything else in this accursed world.

The shifting shadow outside Asira's window confirmed they were indeed being watched. The Fatui agent gave a knock- a signature sign of three soft then two erratic taps- almost unnoticeable unless one was listening for it in particular. Childe had run out of time.

"Regardless, the choice is yours. But I suggest you choose wisely, after all, _death to the traitors_. You know that rule better than any of us, right?"

The girl grit her teeth, fighting a retort as Childe opened the window, gust of winter air enveloping the dark room. He paused to place something against her dining table, undoubtedly more information about their next rendezvous, before concealing his face with the Fatui mask once more. If everything he was saying was true... then she truly had no choice. She had no choice but to turn on Mondstadt, for if it would keep them out of harm's way would it not be worth it? Her life was a small price to pay for that of thousands.

"We will meet again in Liyue in three days time, by a pier known only to the moon." Asira glances up, her steel gaze locking onto Childe's own as he prepares for his decent off the window. The mere sight of him churned her guts into a violent rage. She forced herself to turn away, almost missing his last few words as he whispered them into the night. "Oh... and голубушка... Tonia, Teucer, and the others miss you. I'm sure they'll be glad to hear you're okay."

Asira's eyes widen and she clasps a hand over her mouth to stifle a sob. "Ajax wait—"

But when she turned back around the man was gone.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

**голубушка** \- Russian (noun) - little dove, darling, dearest

oh my we are finally getting to meet the remaining characters

so the dice have been cast, I wonder what they are planning and what it has to do with Asira...

(may I add the amount of times I misspelled Tsaritsa is embarrassing)

**Author's Note:**

> ❝ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝔟𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐦, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞 ❞


End file.
